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i'a'.R fe BE.OTHKKS. 







ME M OIE 



QP 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 



THE LATE 



HON. THEO. FRELINGHUYSEN, LLD. 



BY TALBOT W.^ CHAMBERS, 

A MINISTER OF THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH, NEW YORK. 



NEW YOKK: 
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN SQUAEE. 

1863. 




f.. 






^ 



<4 



^y 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand 
eight hundred and sixty-three, by 

HAKPER & BROTHERS, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District 

of New York. 



\ 



INTRODUCTION. 



Soon after the death of Mr. Frelinghuysen, a desire 
was expressed, in many and various quarters, for some 
permanent memorial of his life. His long course of 
private worth and public usefulness, the eminent po- 
sitions he had occupied, his ability, his eloquence, his 
stainless probity, his consistent piety, his catholic spir- 
it, his recognized leadership among evangelical Chris- 
tians of every name, and his relations to all the great 
Christian enterprises of the age, seemed to call for a 
volume which should trace his career from its origin, 
and indicate the sources of the rare and rounded char- 
acter which he maintained even to the last. 

Circumstances, which it is needless to mention, turn- 
ed the author's attention to the subject. Having a 
connection by marriage with some of Mr. Freling- 
huysen's relatives, he had for more than twenty years 
enjoyed a considerable degree of intimacy with him, 
and was enabled therefore, on many points, to speak 
from personal observation. From the living repre- 
sentatives of Mr. Frelinghuysen he met the heartiest 
sympathy and co-operation. It was, indeed, at their 
suggestion and by their aid that the present volume 



IV INTRODUCTION. / 

has been prepared. It does not pretend, theref- ., to 
have the coolness of judicial impartiality. The re- 
membrance of Mr. Frelinghuysen's genial goodness is 
still too fresh to allow those who knew him familiarly 
to speak of his character with stoic calmness. Hie 
liber "^ ^ ^ professione pietatis aut laudatus erit^ aid ex- 
cusatus. Yet the reader will look in vain for indis- 
criminate eulogy. It is believed that the delineation 
given does not transgress the bounds of truth, in let- 
ter, in spirit, or in the impression it is calculated to 
produce. The great aim has been to give, in moder- 
ate compass, as just and accurate an account of the 
growth and development of this remarkable man as 
could be obtained by patient and diligent inquiry. 
One reason of the insertion of so many statements and 
letters from different persons, as will be found inter- 
spersed through the volume, is to show how similar, 
or, rather, identical was the impression made by his 
virtues on all the classes of men, lay and clerical, with 
whom he came in contact. If any still deem the char- 
acter described to be one of impossible perfection, it 
only remains to assure them that nothing is stated ex- 
cept what is believed on the amplest and most satis- 
factory evidence — nothing which would not be ac- 
cepted by any of his numerous neighbors and towns- 
men as either true of their own knowledge, or as what 
their acquaintance with him would naturally lead them 
to believe and expect. Close and prolonged inspec- 
tion is a severe test of character, but it is precisely 



INTRODUCTION. V 

those who saw Mr. Frelinghuysen at nearest hand and 
for the longest time who cherish the deepest reverence 
for his memory, and the strongest conviction of his 
unexampled excellence. 

The author begs leave here to offer his grateful ac- 
knowledgments to the kind friends, too numerous to 
specify in detail, who have aided him by the commu- 
nication of useful papers or statements. He has spared 
no pains to gather such information as bore upon the 
subject, but has reason to lament that, in several in- 
stances, it was found impossible to obtain details suffi- 
ciently authentic and definite to be inserted in this bi- 
ography. 

Still, he trusts that his work will not be found 
wholly unworthy of its subject, and he commits it to 
the press with the prayer that the blessed Savior, who 
was pleased to make Mr. Frelinghuysen so useful in 
his life, will vouchsafe to honor with a portion of the 
same blessing this imperfect record of his course and 
character. 

New York, June, 1 SG3. 



!: 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

HIS ANCESTRY. 

I. The Rev. Theo. Jac. Frelinghuysen. — II. The Rev. John Freling- 
huysen. — The Jufvrouw Hardenbergh. — III. Major Gen. Fred- 
erick Frelinghuysen Page 13 

CHAPTER II. 

HIS YOUTH AND EDUCATION. 

1787—1808. 

Birth-place. — School at New Brunswick. — Basking Ridge. — Prince- 
ton. — Letter of the Hon. Mr. Ingersoll. — Student at Law in Mill- 
stone. — Letter of the Rev. Dr. I. N. Wyckoff. — In the office of the 
Hon. Richard Stockton. — Admission to the Bar 28 

CHAPTER IIL 

PROFESSIONAL CAREER AT THE BAR. 

1808—1838. 

Settlement at Newark. — Marriage. — Studious Habits. — First Strik- 
ing Success. — Patriotic Exertions in 1812. — Same in 18G1. — At- 
torney General of the State. — Legal Characteristics. — Cases. — The 
Quaker Case. — Proprietary Case. — Leaving the Bar 40 

CHAPTER IV. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

1829—1835. 

Composition of the Senate. — Great Questions agitated — Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen's Course. — The Indian Bill. — The Sunday-Mail Ques- 
tion. — Day of Fasting for the Cholera. — Encomiums of Clay and 
Webster. — Letter of the Hon. Edward Everett 59 



I 



Anii CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 

1839—1850. 

Return to his Profession at Newark. — Call to the University of the 
City of New York. — Installation as Chancellor. — Success, — Pub- 
lic Usefulness. — Nomination for Vice-President. — Letter of Ac- 
ceptance. — The Canvass. — Letter to Louisville. — Result, and the 
disappointment it then caused. — Not now to be regretted. — Mr. 
Frelinghuysen retires from the University. — Letter of Dr. Taylcr 
Lewis Page 84 

CHAPTER VI. 

PRESIDENT OF RUTGERS COLLEGE. 

1850—1862. 

Early History of the Institution.— Inauguration of Mr. Frelinghuy- 
sen.— Growth of the College.— The President's Diligence.— Letter 
from Dr. Crosby.— Death of the first Mrs. Frelinghuysen.— Bacca- 
laureate Addresses.— Useful to the End.— Death.— Funeral.. 103 

CHAPTER VII. 

PERSONAL TRAITS AND HABITS. 

His Person.— Social and Domestic Habits.— Hospitality.— Popular- 
ity. — Mental Traits : Insight, Judgment, Imagination. — Reading. 
— Style. — Speeches. — Eloquence. — Instances. — Reminiscence of 
Dr.Magie H^ 

CHAPTER VIII. 

ORIGIN AND CHARACTER OF HIS PIETY. 

Early Impressions. — Conversion at Newark. — Influence of his Broth- 
er's Death. — Eminence of his Piety. — Its Elements: 1. Simplicity 
of Faith; 2. Humility; 3. Devotional Habits; 4. Geniality; S.Ten- 
dernesss of Conscience ; G. Completeness ; 7. The Fruit of Culture. 
— Letter from Dr. Woodbridge 129 

CHAPTER IX. 

HIS RELIGIOUS LIFE. 

At Home— at the Bar — in Washington— in Church Relations— Sun- 
day-school. — Charity. — Catholicity of Feeling 151 



ft 



CONTENTS. IX 

i CHAPTER X. 

'' PERSONAL EFFORTS FOR THE SALVATION OF MEN. 

Letter to Mr. Lincoln. — Consultation about entering the Ministry. — 
Dr. Spring's Letter. — Assiduity and Skill in speaking to impenitent 
Persons. — Grounds of his Success. — Letters. — Correspondence with 
Mr. Clay ; with Mr. Webster ; Governor Pennington ; Judge Nevi- 
us. — Letter of Judge Chambers. — Other Examples. — Words of J. 
P. Jackson. — Perseverance Page 1 G8 

CHAPTER XI. 

EXTRACTS FROM HIS CORRESPONDENCE. 

Its general Character. — Fifteen Letters to a young Relative pursuing 
his Education. — Two to another young Relative. — Four to the Rev. 
Dr. J. A. H. Cornell. — A Letter of Condolence to the Rev. Dr. De 
Witt 192 

CHAPTER XII. 

CONNECTION WITH BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 

A. B. C. F. M. — American Bible Society. — American Tract Society. 
— American Colonization Society. — American Sunday-school 
Union. — American Temperance Union 213 

CHAPTER XIH. 

THE CLOSING SCENE. 

Origin of his Sickness. — Fear of Death. — Fear overcome. — Profound 
Humility. — Submission. — Temptations. — Remembrances. — Inter- 
view with Dr. Campbell. — Advice to a Youth. — Desire to Depart. 
—The peaceful End 253 

CHAPTER XIV. 

CONCLUSION. 

The Gift of God. — Mr. Frelinghuysen's Comjjleteness of Character. — 
General Recognition of it. — Proven by Trial. — Theme of Gratitude 
to God. — Encouragement to others. — A Proof of Christianity. — 
An Example of cheerful Piety. — Its fundamental and characteris- 
tic Element 26i 

Appendix 275 

Index 283 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 



THE LATE 



HON. THEO. FRELINGHUYSEN, LLD. 



LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 



CHAPTER I. 

HIS ANCESTRY. 

I. The Rev. Theo. Jac. Frelinghuysen, — II. The Rev. John Freling- 
huysen. — The Jufvrouw Hardenbergh. — III. Major Gen. Fred. 
Frelinghuysen. 

" The glory of children are their fathers," nor is any 
reasonable man insensible to the value of an honora- 
ble descent, especially if to earthly distinction there is 
added the blessed memory of the just. The subject 
of this volume was not accustomed to boast of any 
thing, but he is known to have had pleasure in con- 
templating the virtues of those who went before him, 
and to have derived a healthful stimulus from their 
example. 

I. The first of the name who came to this country 
was the Rev. Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen, or, as 
he sometimes wrote his signature, Freylinghausen. He 
was born in East Friesland, now a part of the king- 
dom of Hanover, about the year 1691, and was ordain- 
ed to the pastoral office in 1717. The circumstances 
which led to his coming to this country were striking- 
ly providential. The Dutch churches in America were 
at that early day chiefly supplied with ministers from 
Holland. It happened that a request had been re- 
ceived by the Olassis of Amsterdam, asking them to 



14 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEN. 

send a pious minister to America, and one of the pas- 
tors, named Sicco Tjadde, interested himself to procure 
a proper person. While Tjadde was pursuing his in- 
quiries, Mr. Frelinghuysen passed through the town 
where this pastor lived, being on his way to Embden 
to assume the rectorship of the academy at that place. 
He spent the night at the house of an elder of the 
Church, who invited him to conduct the evening de- 
votions. He readily consented, and, after reading a 
chapter in the Bible, gave a short exposition, and con- 
cluded with prayer. The elder was so much pleased 
with the service, and with the whole spirit and con-- 
versation of the young minister, that on his departure 
in the morning he made Mr. Frelinghuysen promise 
to stay at his house on ^)' return, and then hastening 
to his pastor, cried out, ± have found a man to go to 
America." In due time the promise was fulfilled by 
Mr. Frelinghuysen, and, after consultation, he agreed 
to accept the oall and emigrate to America. 

He arrived in this country in the first month of the 
year 1720, and at once entered upon his labors, which 
extended over a wide field upon the banks of the Ear- 
itan and its affluents. His place of residence was about 
three miles west of New Brunswick, from which, as 
a centre, he made excursions as the wants of his peo- 
ple demanded, preaching alternately in Earitan, New 
Brunswick, Six-Mile Eun, and North Branch, and was 
constantly active in catechising and instructing the 
youth. He encountered many difiiculties, owing in 
part to the scattered population, dense forests, un- 
bridged streams, and ill-marked roads incident to a 
newly-settled country, but still more to the state of the 



HIS ANCESTRY. 15 

people, among whom formalism abounded, leading, as 
it always does in the end, to a great relaxation of 
morals. But the man was equal to the occasion. The 
times required a ministry prosecuted "in the spirit 
and power of Elias," and such he aimed at. He not 
only presented the great doctrines of the Gospel with 
fidelity and energy, but applied them with a fearless 
pungency, which often gave great offense. And al- 
though bitterly opposed and cruelly slandered, he nev- 
er yielded, but maintained to the last the spirit exhib- 
ited in the declaration of one of his early discourses : 
" I would sooner die a thousand deaths than not preach 
the truth." His prevailing temper of mind seems to 
be indicated by the concluding words of the preface 
to a small collection of sermons first printed in 1783, 
^^Laiidem non quoero ; culpam non iimeo'^ — I seek not 
praise ; I fear not blame. All accounts agree in refer- 
ence to him, that he w*s a great blessing to the Dutch 
Church in America. The Kev. Gilbert Tennent said 
of him: "The labors of Mr. Frelinghuysen, a Dutch 
minister, were much blessed to the people of New 
Brunswick and places adjacent, about the time of his 
coming among them. "When I came there, which was 
about seven years after, I had the pleasure of seeing 
much of the fruits of his ministry. Divers of his hear- 
ers, with whom I had the opportunity of conversing, 
appeared to be converted persons by their soundness 
in principle. Christian experience, and pious practice ; 
and these persons declared that his ministrations were 
the means thereof This, together with a kind letter 
which he wrote me respecting the necessity of dividing 
the Word aright, and giving to every one his portion 



16 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

in due season, tlirougli the Divine blessing, excited me 
to greater earnestness in ministerial labors." Simi- 
lar testimony is borne by Whitfield, who, in his jour- 
nal of 1739, speaks of an extensive work of grace as 
the fruit of Frelinghuysen's ministry in Kew Bruns- 
wick and that vicinity. So, also, does President Ed- 
wards, in his Narrative of Surprising Conversions, first 
published in 1786. There were added at this time to 
the Church of Earitan alone forty-four persons, a num- 
ber which, in the judgment of the Kev. Dr. Messier, 
the present pastor of the church, must have been near- 
ly, if not quite, equal to one from each family in the 
congregation. 

His printed sermons, which a few years since were 
collected and translated by the Eev. William Dem- 
AREST, show him to have been an evangelical and pun- 
gent preacher. His labors continued for more than a 
quarter of a century ; and although he was often at- 
tacked in the civil courts, before the colonial authori- 
ties, through the press, and by complaint to the Classls 
of Amsterdam, he never succumbed. Amid all his tri- 
als, he was sustained by the countenance of his ecclesi- 
astical superiors, by the consolations of grace in his own 
heart, by the Divine blessing upon his '' weak minis- 
trations," as he called them, and by the fulfillment of 
the covenant to his household. All his children were 
believers. His five sons were ordained to the minis- 
try, and his two daughters were married to ministers. 

The eldest son, Theodore, was sent to Holland for 
his education, and, after being ordained to the minis- 
try, came to this country in 1715. The next year he 
was settled over the Church in Albany, New York. 



HIS ANCESTRY. 17 

Mrs. Grant, of Lao^ofan, in her " Memoirs of an Ameri- 
can Lady," speaks of him as "the apostolic and much- 
beloved Freylinghausen." According to the same au- 
thority, he was ardent in his disposition, and frank and 
popular in his manners. His preaching was earnest 
and eloquent, his life spotless, and his concern for his 
people warm and tender. He was very much endear- 
ed to the Church and the whole community ; but, to- 
ward the end of his career, a regiment of royal troops 
stationed at Albany introduced customs and manners 
which led to a serious deterioration of religion and 
morals, despite all the influence and authority he could 
exert. Deeply wounded by the failure of his efforts 
to stay the torrent of fashionable innovation, he with- 
drew from the contest, and sailed to Holland, whither, 
according to some accounts, he went for the purpose 
of obtaining funds to establish a literary and theolog- 
ical institution ; but he was lost at sea. The people 
of Albany long mourned his departure, and cherished 
his memory with the deepest affection. 

The third and fourth sons. Jacobus and Ferdi- 
NANDUS, were sent to Holland, where they passed 
through the usual course of study, and were ordained 
to the ministry. They embarked for home, with the 
intention of taking charge, the one of the Church of 
Wawwarsing or Marbletown, the other of that of Kin- 
derhook ; but both, while at sea, fell victims to the 
smallpox in the year 1753. 

The youngest son, Henricus, pursued his studies 
in this country, and was licensed to preach the Gospel 
by the direction of what was called the Coetus. In 
the year 1756 he took charge of the churches of Waw- 



I 



18 LIFE OF FRELIXGHUYSEN. 

warsing and Eocliester, in Ulster County, New York. 
The next year lie was regularly ordained and induct- 
ed into office. Very soon afterward lie was attacked 
by smallpox, and died at Naponoch. 

Of his daughters, one, Anna, became the wife of the 
Kev. William Jackson, who, having begun his studies 
under John Frelinghuysen, at Earitan, finished them 
in Holland, where he was ordained. Keturning home 
in 1757, he was settled over the churches of Staten Isl- 
and and Bergen, where he prosecuted a faithful and 
successful ministry for thirty years, when he was laid 
aside by grievous afflictions. His life, however, was 
prolonged until July, 1813. His wife died in May, 
1810, aged 72 years. The other, Margaret, was mar- 
ried to the Rev. Thomas Romeyn, then settled on Long 
Island. She died early, but left one son, Theodore 
Frelinghuysen Romeyn, who became a minister, and 
succeeded Dr. Hardenbergh in the same charge at Ear- 
itan to which his grandfather and his uncle had suc- 
cessively ministered. He was a young man of fine 
promise, but was suddenly removed by death within 
less than eighteen months from the date of his instal- 
lation. 

II. The Rev. Theo. Jac. Frelinghuysen was succeed- 
ed in his charge on the Raritan by his second son, 
John, who, having been educated and ordained in 
Holland, commenced his labors in August, 1750. He 
seems to have been a man of greater suavity than his 
father, but was equally firm in upholding the claims 
of spiritual Christianity. He was distinguished for his 
gifts in the pulpit, for his assiduity in the religious 
training of the young, and for his zealous endeavors 



HIS ANCESTRY. 19 

to raise up wortliy candidates for the sacred office. 
There is still standing in Somerville a house built of 
bricks brought by him from Holland, where he resi- 
ded, and where Hardenbergh, Jackson, Leydt, and oth- 
ers attended a nascent theological seminary under his 
direction. Although the old troubles between fhe 
parties known respectively as Coetus and Conferentie* 
still continued, yet a more than ordinary blessing rest- 
ed upon his ministry, and much was expected from 
him in the future ; but these hopes were blasted by his 
early death in September, 1754. His ministerial life 
being so short, very little is known in detail of his 
character, but his death was very generally and deep- 
ly lamented. Much more is known of his wife, who 
survived him more than fifty years, and was as emi- 
nent in her day for intelligent piety as any of the fe- 
male saints of the Old Testament or the New. 

Dinah Yan Berg was the daughter of a wealthy 
and distinguished East India merchant who resided 
in Amsterdam. While yet young she was overtaken 

* The "Coetus" consisted of an assembly of ministers of the Dutch 
Church (organized in 1738, but not put in operation until 1747), who 
proposed to administer discipline, and license and ordain candidates 
for the ministry, without requiring them to visit Holland to be edu- 
cated and approved there. The " Conferentie" was a rival associa- 
tion (organized in 1755), who insisted that in every such case the ex- 
press authority of the Cla^sis of Amsterdam should be obtained. A 
lamentable schism thus originated, which, in some cases, scarcely 
stopped short of actual violence, and did immense damage to the in- 
terests of religion and morals. The difficulties were finally composed 
by a convention brought together through the agency of the late Rev. 
Dr. Livingston in the year 1771, and in the end all the ministers and 
churches of Hollandish descent were united under the title of the Re- 
formed Protestant Dutch Church in North America. 



I 



20 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEI^. 

by Divine grace, and at once became a firm and deci- 
ded Christian. Althougli in a very unfavorable atmo- 
sphere, and surrounded by gay and worldly persons, 
she maintained an eminent consistency of character. 
This fidelity to principle subjected her to considerable 
and prolonged opposition, which, with other causes, at 
length affected her health. Her sickness increased to 
such a degree that her life was despaired of. She, 
however, insisted that, in answer to her prayers, she 
would be restored, and even went so far as to indicate 
the day when her recovery would commence. The 
prediction was laughed at by her attending physician, 
who considered her case altogether hopeless. When 
the day arrived, her condition remained unchanged 
until toward sunset, when she arose from the bed 
which she had not left for weeks, and walked across 
the room ; and from that time her recovery was steady 
and rapid. The circumstance excited much, interest 
in the city ; and when Dr. Livingston visited Amster- 
dam many years afterward, he was inquired of by 
great numbers of persons respecting this extraordina- 
ry woman. 

During her sickness, John Frelinghuysen, who was 
then pursuing his theological studies in the mother 
country, frequently called upon her, and the acquaint- 
ance ripened into a mutual attachment. Her parents 
were decidedly opposed to the connection, partly be- 
cause of the profession of her suitor, and partly because 
of the hardships which must necessarily be incurred 
by those living in a newly-settled country. Finding 
their opposition invincible, Mr. Frelinghuj^sen set off 
on his return home alone, but, after being one day out 



HIS ANCESTRY. 21 

at sea, a contrary wind drove the vessel in wbicli he 
had embarked directly back to port. He seized the 
occasion as a providential opening for the renewal of 
his suit, and this time was successful. Re-embarking 
with his wife, he had a prosperous voyage, and, reach- 
ing home, commenced the ministry which, as has been 
said, was so acceptable, and yet so soon terminated by 
his death when only twenty-five years of age. His wid- 
ow, who had greatly endeared herself to the commu- 
nity by her piety, energy, and usefulness, determined 
to return to Holland. Her preparations were all made, 
a passage engaged, and the day fixed for her depar- 
ture, when she was surprised by a proposal of mar- 
riage from one of the young men who had been study- 
ing theology under the direction of her husband, to 
which, in her astonishment, she answered, " My child, 
what are you thinking about?" He had contempla- 
ted this step for some time, and had consulted their 
common friends, but, out of respect for her grief for 
her recent bereavement, had refrained from declaring 
himself until the last moment. This young man was 
Jacobus Rutsen Hardenbergh, afterward widely 
known as a divine, a scholar, and patriot, a personal 
friend of AVashington, and the first President of the 
college at New Brunswick, N. J., of which he was, to 
a large extent, the founder. He succeeded in per- 
suading the widow to countermand the preparations 
for her departure and to accept his hand in marriage, 
all other considerations to this end being greatly aided 
in their influence by the wide prospect of usefulness 
to the Master's cause which opened itself before her in 
case she should remain in America. She continued 



22 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

the faithful companion of Dr. Hardenbergh's labors 
and trials in Earitan, in Mombacus, IST. Y., and finally 
in Kew Brunswick, where, after having survived him 
for seventeen years, she terminated her useful career 
by a triumphant death, at the advanced age of eighty- 
one years, on the 26th day of March, 1807. The follow- 
ing stanza, engraved upon her tombstone in the grave- 
yard of the First Keformed Protestant Dutch Church 
in New Brunswick, indicates the degree in which her 
high attainments in grace were regarded by those who 
survived her. 

"Tell how she climbed the everlasting hills, 
Surveying all the realms above ; 
Borne on a strong- winged faith, and on 
The fiery wheels of an immortal love." 

The children of the first marriage, the Jufvrouw Har- 
denbergh, as she was usually styled by her neighbors, 
were a son and a daughter. The latter, named Eva, 
was married to Mr. Caspar Yan Nostrand, who at an 
early day removed to Ulster County, N. Y., where nu- 
merous descendants of the family are still remaining. 
The former, who was the father of the subject of this 
memoir, was named Frederick. 

III. Frederick Frelinghuysen was born on the 
13th of April, 1753. Dedicated in his infancy to the 
Lord, he was carefully trained in the knowledge and 
practice of the truth. It was his mother's constant 
and anxious desire that he should become, like his 
father and grandfather, a minister of the Gospel, and 
in this she was cordially seconded by her husband. 
But it was in vain. The young man did not feel him- 
self fitted or called to the sacred office ; and although 



HIS ANCESTRY. 23 

he yielded to importunity so far as to study theology 
for six months, yet at the end of that time his disin- 
clination still continued, and he turned his face in an- 
other direction. Tradition intimates that there was 
something in the rigidity and strictness of his step- 
father, especially in the matter of Sunday observance, 
which somewhat repelled young people, and hindered 
them from seeing the natural attractiveness of that 
wisdom whose ways are ways of pleasantness, and all 
whose paths are peace. General Frelinghuysen, so far 
from becoming a minister of the Gospel, did not enter 
into the full communion of the Church ; but it was 
the opinion of his last pastor, the late Kev. Dr. Cannon, 
who afterward became Professor in the Theological 
Seminary at New Brunswick, K. J., that at the end of 
life the pious lessons of his early years returned to his 
memory, and wrought a gracious result upon his heart. 
He received his collegiate education at the College 
of New Jersey, Princeton, where the Kev. Dr. Samuel 
Stanhope Smith, Dr. Samuel Spring, and James Mad- 
ison were among his fellow-students. After his grad- 
uation in 1770, he entered upon the study of the law, 
and when he was of age was admitted to the bar. 
Here he soon displayed the possession of rare gifts and 
attainments. Such was his reputation, that in 1775, 
when only twenty-two years old, he was chosen a mem- 
ber of the Provincial Congress of New Jersey, where 
he was placed on the important Committee of Public 
Safety. The next year he was chosen to the same 
body, which adopted a Constitution, and changed its 
title from " Provincial Congress" to the " Convention 
of the State of New Jersey." In 1778 he was elect- 



2-1 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

ed, on joint ballot of the Legislature, to represent New 
Jersey in the Continental Congress ; but in the follow- 
ing year he resigned his seat, not, however, from any 
failure of patriotism, or any desire to escape his share 
of the public burdens, as appears by the following ex- 
tract from his letter of resignation, addressed to the 
Speaker of the House of Assembly of his native state: 

" It is needless for me to remind the honorable Leg- 
islature that I did with great reluctance accept the ap- 
pointment of a delegate for this state in Congress. I 
was then sufficiently sensible that the trust was too 
important for my years and abilities, I am now fully 
convinced that I should do injustice to my country did 
I not decline that service. 

"In doing this I am conscious to myself that I am 
merely actuated by motives for the public good, well 
knowing that, whatever be my abilities, they will be 
useless to the state in the supreme council of the na- 
tion, and that the other appointment with which the 
Legislature of IN'ew Jersey have been pleased to honor 
me in the county of Somerset is more than sufficient 
to employ my whole attention." 

It appears, however, that at a later period of the 
Eevolutionary struggle he returned to the civil serv- 
ice of the countrj^, for his name is found on the rolls of 
the Continental Congress for the years 1782 and 1783, 
as a representative from New Jersey. 

While holding his seat in Provincial Congress in 
the first years of the Eevolution, he had also been act- 
ing as captain of a corps of artillery, a volunteer com- 
pany of Continental troops, and in this capacity took 
part in the bloody battle of Trenton. There still re- 



HIS ANCESTRY. 25 

mains in tlie family of his oldest son a serviceable 
sword, which in that conflict was surrendered to him 
by a British officer. A tradition, the accuracy of 
which it is now impossible to determine, states that it 
was by a shot from his pistol that Colonel Rahl, the 
commander of the Hessian forces, was mortally wound- 
ed. He afterward was made a colonel in the militia 
of his native county, Somerset, and was actively en- 
gaged in the war. He was present in the skirmishes 
at Springfield and Elizabeth, and also at the battle of 
Monmouth Court-house, in June, 1778. After the con- 
clusion of the war, he received repeated testimonials 
of public confidence in the shape of appointments to 
various offices in the county and in the state, and in 
1793 was chosen to a seat in the Senate of the United 
States. This position domestic bereavements and the 
claims of his family compelled him to resign in the 
year 1796. During the administration of Washing- 
ton, a formidable sedition arose in Western Pennsyl- 
vania, known as the Whisky Insurrection. A very 
large array of forces was summoned from the militia 
of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, 
to put down the insurgents. The President gave Mr. 
Frelinghuysen a major general's command among the 
troops from the two latter states. Fortunately, the 
overwhelming number of men sent into the field made 
resistance hopeless, and the insurrection was quelled 
with little or no bloodshed. 

On the 22d of February, 1800, he was called to de- 
liver an oration in New Brunswick on the death of 
the Father of his Country. This oration, copies of 
which are still extant, glows with the ardor to be ex- 

E 



26 LIFE OF FKELINGHUYSEN. 

pected in one who shared in the toils and sacrifices of 
the Eevolution. He continued actively engaged in 
various public and private duties until his death, which 
occurred in 1804, on the same day of the same month 
on which he was born. It is a curious but indubita- 
ble fact, that at the commencement of what proved to 
be his last illness, and when it was by no means of 
an alarming character, he foretold its fatal issue, and 
named the day on which he should die. And that 
day he did die. 

Mortuary inscriptions are not always the most trust- 
worthy evidences of character, yet it is believed that 
the following extracts from the lines engraved on the 
monument erected over his remains in the cemetery 
near Millstone are strictly correct : 

" He died greatly beloved iind lamented. Endow- 
ed by nature with superior talents, he was from his 
youth intrusted by his country with her most impor- 
tant concerns, and never did he disappoint her expec- 
tations. At the bar he was eloquent, in the Senate he 
was wise, in the field he was brave. Candid, gener- 
ous, and just, he was constant and ardent in his friend- 
ships. Ever the patron and protector of merit, he 
gave his hand to the young, his counsel to the middle- 
aged, his support to declining years. He left to his 
children the rich legacy of a life unsullied by a stain, 
and adorned with numerous expressions of public use- 
fulness and private beneficence." 

General Frelinghuysen was twice married. His first 
wife was Gertrude Schenck, who died in March, 
1794, and whose children were five in number : three 
sons, named John, Theodore, and Frederick ; and two 



HIS ANCESTRY. 27 

daughters — Maria, who was married to the Eev. John 
Cornell, and of whom some notice will be found in the 
Appendix, and Catharine, who became the wife of the 
late Eev. Gideon F. Judd, D.D., of Catskill. The gen- 
eral's second marriage was to Miss Ann Yard, a lady 
of great force of character and refinement of mind, 
who survived her husband for many years. Her chil- 
dren were two : Elizabeth, the wife of the late James 
B. Elmendorf, M.D., of Millstone, and Sarah, who died 
in her youth. Of all these children, the only one now 
surviving is the widow of the Rev. Dr. Judd. 

Note. — The foregoing account has been compiled mainly from va- 
rious publications of the Eev. Dr. Messier, of Somerville, New Jersey, 
especially the two entitled "A brief History of the Keformed Dutch 
Church of Raritan, from its organization to the year 1834 ;" and 
"The Hollanders in New Jersey, with Notices of some of their De- 
scendants ;" read before the New Jersey Historical Society, Septem- 
ber 12, 1820; by Rev. Abraham Messier, D.D. Other details have 
been derived from traditions still existing in the family, and believed 
to be entirely authentic. 



'^' 



28 LIFE OF FKELINGHUYSEN. 



CHAPTER 11. 

HIS YOUTH AND EDUCATION. 

1787—1808. 

Birthplace. — School at New Brunswick. — Basking Ridge. — Prince- 
ton. — Letter of the Hon. Mr. Ingersoll. — Student at Law in Mill- 
stone. — Letter of the Rev. Dr. I. N. WyckofF. — In the OflSce of the 
Hon. Richard Stockton. — Admission to the Bar. 

Theodore Frelinghuysen was born in Franklin 
Township, Somerset County, N. J., on tlie 28tli of 
March, 1787. The family homestead at Millstone, 
where he was brought up, and which he subsequently 
purchased from the estate of his younger brother, con- 
tinued in his possession until the year 1840, when it 
passed into other hands, and shortly afterward was en- 
tirely destroyed by fire. The engraving on the oppo- 
site page presents a correct view of the spacious and 
convenient mansion as it appeared twenty-five years 
ago. Here he spent his early years, receiving such 
rudiments of learning as were afforded at a small 
neighborhood school on the banks of the Millstone. 
Afterward, about the year 1798, he, in company with 
his brother Frederick, was sent to New Brunswick for 
the purpose of attending the grammar-school in con- 
nection with Queen's College, at that time under the 
direction of the Eev. Jno. Lindsley, a clergyman of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church. The school was held 
in the old College building, erected on the ground 
where the Second Presbyterian Church now stands. 
Dr. Ephraim Smith, the late Col. James Neilson, and 




'mwmmmmm^ 



HIS YOUTH AND EDUCATION. 81 

other gentlemen of social distinction, were at this time 
fellow-students of the Frelinghuysens, although in a 
more advanced class. In 1800 Mr. Lindsley relin- 
quished his rectorship of the grammar-school, and the 
boys returned to their father's house at Millstone. 

At this time an event occurred which Mr. Freling- 
huysen considered one of the most important and de- 
cisive in his whole life. Being rather indisposed to 
close mental application, he requested his father to 
forego his purpose of giving him a liberal education, 
and allow him to remain upon the homestead and be- 
come a farmer. His father yielded to his earnest wish, 
and the point seemed settled. But some time after- 
ward, when the general was called away to the seat 
of government on public business, his wife took the 
matter in hand, packed Theodore's trunk, and sent him 
off to a classical school. He was greatly vexed at this 
step, which seemed to him to be only an instance of 
the harshness and oppression usually attributed to 
stepmothers. But in after years he changed his view 
entirely. He declared that to her decisive action he 
owed all his subsequent success in life ; nor was he 
ever weary of recounting his obligations in this and 
_ uher matters to his father's second wife. That lady 
was a signal blessing to Theodore and Frederick. She 
took particular pains in forming their principles, and 
in inculcating the graceful and high-bred courtesy for 
which they were distinguished. 

The school to which, by the wise foresight of Mrs. 
Frelinghuysen, Theodore was sent in order to be pre- 
pared for college, was the classical academy at Bask- 
ing Ridge, a village at the northern extremity of the 



32 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

county. This institution had been founded the pre- 
vious year by the Kev. Egbert Finley, D.D., whose 
name has attained a widespread and enduring celeb- 
rity as the founder of the American Colonization So- 
ciety. From the interesting and instructive memoir 
of his life prepared by the late Eev. Isaac Y. Brown 
(2d edition, Philad., 1857), it appears that this insti- 
tution was really worthy of the high reputation which 
it enjoyed for twenty years under the care of Dr. Fin- 
ley, and afterward, for a shorter period, while conduct- 
ed by his successor in the pastoral office at the Eidge, 
the late Eev. William Craig Brownlee, D.B. Dr. 
Finley was an accomplished scholar, a thorough disci- 
plinarian, a skillful teacher, and particularly distin- 
guished for his ability to awaken the interest of his 
pupils in what they were studying. He had a natu- 
ral fondness for teaching, and gave his whole mind to 
the work. His influence with the scholars was in- 
* creased by his sacred profession, and the uncommon 
power and unction which marked his efforts in the 
pulpit. The academy soon obtained an honorable 
name, and attracted more applicants for admission than 
he was willing to receive. Such families as the Bay- 
ards, Lindsleys, Southards, Kirkpatricks, and others, 
were glad to secure its advantages for their children. 
The Eev. Dr. Kirkpatrick, of Eingoes, IST. J., states, 
in a letter to the author, that he and the late Hon. 
Saml. L. Southard (afterward Mr. F.'s colleague in the 
Senate) commenced the study of Latin with Dr. Finley 
in August, 1799. In the spring of the next year they 
were joined by Philip Lindsley (afterward President 
of the University of Nashville, Tenn.), and by Theo. 



I 



HIS YOUTH AND EDUCATION. 83 

Frelingliiiysen. They constituted the first class of 
the academy. Dr. Kirkpatrick says that Mr. F. was 
a moral and amiable youth, beloved by his classmates. 

All these were admitted in September, 1802, to the 
Junior Class of the College of New Jersey at Prince- 
ton. Among the other members of that class were 
the Hon. Greorge Chambers, of Chambersburg, Pa., and 
the Hon. Jos. E. Ingersoll, late Minister of the United 
States to the Court of St. James. Mr. Ingersoll has 
been kind enough to furnish the author with the fol- 
lowing interesting reminiscences of his early friend 
and classmate. 

*' Nassau Hall, the now venerable College of New 
Jersey, has been naturally regarded as the becoming 
nursery of the sons of that patriotic state. Many of 
them have received the crowning portion of their ed- 
ucation there, and not a few of them have carried 
away with them high and distinguished honors. 

" The class of 1804 gave to the country more than 
one of these, who fulfilled their early promise by be- 
coming legislators, orators, and statesmen in the coun- 
cils of the nation. It was usual for the natives of 
New Jersey to enter college in the Junior year. They 
thus enjoyed advantages from comparatively mature 
cultivation in good preliminary schools; and they 
escaped some of the dangers incident to the college 
career of extreme youth, when surrounded by exam- 
ples and temptations more attractive than meritori- 
ous, from different and distant places. 

" Theodore Frelinghuysen and others came at the 
same time, prepared for the opening of the Junior class. 
He soon took a station of high merit, and he maintain- 

B2 



34 lilFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

ed his position to the close of his allotted time. In his 
studies he was faithfully diligent, and for his recitations 
he was always prepared. It was observed of him by 
one of his classmates that he never made a mistake in 
them. With excellent abiHties, great industry, suit- 
able ambition, and never-failing attention, it could 
scarcely be otherwise. The studies were susceptible 
of being mastered, and he took care to conquer them. 

" In the observance of college duty his conduct was 
exemplary. He appeared to have no tendency to 
neglect, and no inclination or capacity for mischief. 
He met the routine of exercises with uniform punctu- 
ality, and appeared to have no wish except within the 
college rules. As a speaker, he gave full indication 
of the excellence which was manifested in a brilliant 
senatorial life. When a ' Senior,' he represented the 
Cliosophic Society on the morning of the 4th of July, 
in the exercises performed only by two persons, one 
being from each society. His discourse was patriotic 
in its theme. The order of speaking was determined 
by lot, and he chose to speak last. The classmate 
who preceded him selected a literary subject, and re- 
ferred to his associate by saying to the audience that 
the wide and extended interests of the country he left 
on the occasion to his friend and brother, whose merits 
with them he would not envy, but would endeavor to 
emulate. 

''The conduct and conversation of our eminent fel- 
low-citizen were not only free from reproach, but ami- 
able and delicate. Although a precisely devotional 
character may not have been observed at this early 
day, yet seeds of religious habit and exercise must 



HIS YOUTH AND EDUCATION. 35 

have been planted whicli were afterward, in due sea- 
son, developed into the ripe exhibition of a pious life. 

"His merits and station in the class, at the final ex- 
amination for degrees, were fully recognized by the 
proper authorities. In the distribution of honors 
among forty-two graduates, the valedictory oration 
was assigned to him. It was a testimonial of uniform 
and exemplary past good conduct, a reward for indus- 
try and excellence in his various studies, and a merit- 
ed compliment to his talents as a speaker. This is al- 
ways considered a touching farewell to companions, 
many of whom become separated for time and eterni- 
ty, and was rendered peculiarly affecting in this in- 
stance. Mr. Frelinghuysen had recently lost his father, 
who had long been eminent in public, and highly es- 
teemed in private life. The parting address of the son 
alluded, with great tenderness and delicacy of feeling, 
to this event, and it did not fail to convey a motive 
for earnest sympathy in the speaker's distress and the 
general sorrow. 

" The valedictory, while it was a proof of past and 

existing merit, was a pledge for the future course of 

the youthful orator which has been nobly redeemed. 

His early professional efforts confirmed the promise 

of distinguished usefulness and stirring abilities. The 

entire development before the country and before the 

world has not only conferred lasting fame upon the 

individual, but has contributed eminently to verify the 

position long since taken, that the alma mater with 

which he was honorably identified in youth was lux 

et gloria Novce Ccesarice. 
''Philadelphia, May 28, 1862." 



36 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

It may add to the interest of tlie foregoing commu- 
nication to state a fact which the modesty of its dis- 
tinguished author induced him to withhold, but which 
the Kev. Dr. Kirkpatrick has preserved, viz., that Mr. 
Ingersoll and Mr. Frehnghuysen were competitors for 
academic distinction, and were pronounced by the 
Faculty to be equal, so that the first honor of the class 
was divided between them. Mr. Ingersoll pronounced 
the Latin salutatory at the commencement. A letter 
to the author from the Hon. Mr. Chambers confirms 
all the statements of Mr. Ingersoll, speaks of Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen as a model student^ and adds the farther 
fact, which will be interesting to some readers, that the 
thoroughness of his academic preparation at Basking 
Eidge contributed largely to the high stand he took 
in his class at college. 

After his graduation Mr. Frelinghuysen returned to 
the homestead at Millstone, which was then occupied 
by his brother John, who had removed his residence 
thither from the Earitan, in order, as the oldest son, to 
take charge of his father's household. In his of&ce 
Theodore commenced the study of the law. Of John 
Frelinghuysen's character and course, some notice will 
be found in the Appendix. It is enough to say here 
that his influence upon his younger brothers was of 
the happiest kind in every respect. Nor were they 
slow to acknowledge it. Theodore, writing to his 
brother's widow immediately after the death of her 
husband, in April, 1833, said : "To my own heart this 
is a sore bereavement. It has taken my only brother, 
who watched over my youth, and was as a father to 
counsel and comfort me; one whose kindness never 



HIS YOUTH AND EDUCATION. 37 

remitted, and who delighted to aid me, and contribute 
in all circumstances to my happiness." 

Of Mr. Frelinghuysen's character and course at this 
period of his life, the author has had the pleasure of 
receiving some authentic statements from the Eev. 
Isaac N. Wyckoff, D.D., of Albany, N. Y., some of 
which are here given. Dr. Wyckoff says : " He had al- 
ready graduated at Princeton when my fortunate ac- 
quaintance with him commenced. But this I well re- 
member, that when a student of law in his brother's 
ofiice, he was much engaged in promoting the mental 
advancement of the young men in his neighborhood. 
'For this purpose he originated a debating society, and 
invited the young men several miles around to attend. 
lie encouraged their efforts in composition and orato- 
ry, and by his unaffected simplicity of manners and 
condescending kindness endeared himself to every 
member of the association. I might mention an anec- 
dote illustrating the attachment of the young men to 
him. On occasion of some earnest discussion in the 
neighboring hotel, a lively fellow took exception to 
some statement Mr. Frelinghuysen made, and threat- 
ened personal chastisement. A stout young farmer 
immediately interposed, and shouted, ' Touch him if 
you. dare;' and the belligerent youth, finding that he 
must encounter, not a fair-handed collegian, but a 
brawny yeoman, slunk away and threatened no more. 
"You will pardon me if I am egotistical in this 
communication. To myself, more than any one else, 
he showed great kindness. Having permitted me, 
though only a boy of fourteen summers, to enter the 
debating society, and observed my desire of improve- 



88 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

ment, he invited me to his office, furnished me with 
books, directed my reading, and ultimately became my 
classical teacher, and devoted his daily attention to me 
till I was nearly ready to enter the Junior class, when 
his brother Frederick— 2:>ar noUle fratrum — took up 
the benevolent task till I entered college. The close 
of this disinterested kindness ought to be mentioned. 
When my father requested to know how he might re- 
ward Mr. F. for his care and tuition, he entirely refused 
compensation. But my father begged that he would 
accept some token of respectful acknowledgment for 
his laborious kindness. ' Well,' said he, ' if I must 
take something, please send me a box of Spanish ci- 
gars;' which was accordingly done. Although I do 
not use cigars myself, no one will expect me to join in 
King James's Counterblast against Tobacco, for its 
fragrant smoke was the visible price of my academic 
education. I have nothing farther to add but the tes- 
timony, which is abundant in our old neighborhood of 
Millstone, that Mr. Frelinghuysen was a youth of noble 
heart and benevolent impulses. None knew him that 
did not love him ; none spoke of him but to praise 
him. For myself, my heart kindles with warmth 
when I think of him. I am inclined to be extrava- 
gant when I speak of him. He was my early patron, 
my unwearied benefactor, my friend till death. I in- 
voke a thousand blessings upon all who were dear to 
him, and who belong to his lineage and partake in his 

spirit." 

Mr. Frelinghuysen continued for somewhat more 
than a year in his brother's office at Millstone, pursu- 
ing his legal studies, and employing his leisure in the 



HIS YOUTH AND EDUCATION". 39 

useful and praisewortliy manner set forth by Dr. 
Wyckoff. He then, at the suggestion of his brother, 
repaired to Princeton, and entered his name in the of- 
fice of the Hon. Kichard Stockton, who had at dif- 
ferent times represented New Jersey in the Senate 
and House of Eepresentatives of the United States, 
and who was for a quarter of a century the acknowl- 
edged leader of the bar in his native state. Under 
this distinguished man he prosecuted his legal studies 
with great assiduity until November, 1808, when he 
was admitted to practice, being then twenty-one years 
of age. 



40 LIFE OF FRELIXGHUYSEN. 



CHAPTEE III. 

PROFESSIOXAL CAEEER AT THE BAR. 
1808—1838. 

Settlement at Newark. — Marriage. — Studious Habits. — First Strik- 
ing Success. — Patriotic Exertions in 1812. — Same in 1861. — At- 
torney General of the State. — Legal Characteristics. — Cases. — The 
Quaker Case. — Proprietary Case. — Leaving the Bar. 

The place wliicli Mr. Frelingliuysen selected to es- 
tablish himself in life was I^ewark, at that time a vil- 
lage which contained about four thousand inhabitants, 
and gave little promise of the growth of business 
which has converted it into one of the most prosper- 
ous inland cities in the whole country. One of the 
attractions which brought him to ISTewark, doubtless, 
was the fact that it was the residence of the lady whom 
he married the next year after his removal there. 
This was Charlotte Mercer, the daus^hter of Archibald 
Mercer, Esq., a gentleman of remarkable enterprise 
and business tact. Miss Mercer was a lady of great 
intelligence, amiable disposition, and numerous graces 
of person and manner; and the union formed with 
her by Mr. Frelinghuysen continued in unbroken af- 
fection for more than forty years, when she was re- 
moved by death to a heavenly home. Providence 
having denied them children, they were inseparable 
companions at home and abroad. Her cheerful spirits 
and buoyant temperament were a signal blessing to 
her husband, whose fatigues and vexations she was 



AT THE BAR. 41 

always able to sootlie, while lier winning courtesy 
gave an additional charm to the abundant and cordial 
hospitalities of his house and table. 

The same habits of studiousness, sobriety, and at- 
tention which had marked Mr. Frelinghuy sen's pre- 
vious course, still attended him while awaiting the 
call of clients. He revised and perfected his legal 
studies. He was diligent in his attendance upon the 
courts. He gave considerable time to the pursuits of 
literature, especially to those histories which lay open 
the fountains of law. His evenings were in general 
spent in the society of Mrs. Fjelinghuysen, to whom 
he was in the habit of reading aloud some favorite 
English classic. None of his faculties were allowed 
to rust through disuse, but, while in comparative ob- 
scurity, he labored as if with some prophetic foresight 
of the demands he would be called to meet in coming 
years. When, therefore, the cares of a full practice 
came rushing upon him, he was not unprepared. 

The commencement of Mr. Frelinghuysen's profes- 
sional life and reputation are well described in a pam- 
phlet published in 1844, understood to be from the 
pen of Courtlandt Parker, Esq., a distinguished mem- 
ber of the New Jersey bar, who had studied in Mr. 
Frelinghuysen's ofl&ce, and who was both familiar with 
his character and well able to describe it. " Ectiring 
and studious in his habits, unassuming, modest, and 
finding the bar already occupied by men of ability 
and standing, he was for two or three years very little 
known, and contented himself with silently laying the 
foundation of his subsequently brilliant career. The 
bar of Essex County was then very distinguished. 



42 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

Among the seniors of the profession were Aaron Og- 
den,* Matthias Williamson, Isaac H. Williamson,* 
Wm. S. Pennington,* Elias Van Arsdale, Jos. C. Horn- 
blower,! Wm. Halsey, and Wm. Chetwood,:}: and other 
men of great distinction in the state, besides Eichard 
Stockton, J George Wood, and others of great ability 
from other counties. Such were Mr. Frelinghuysen's 
competitors, and for some time he remained little 
known ; but about the year 1812 his abilities were 
called into public notice, and he rushed at once into 
an extensive and lucrative practice. 

" His professional success took its rise from his able 
conduct of an important cause which occurred about 
the year above named. It was a case of murder, al- 
leged to have been committed by a colored man. 
The killing was admitted, but it was insisted by the 
defendant that he acted in self-defense. The prison- 
er was friendless and penniless, and the court, being 
obliged to assign him counsel, appointed as such Mr. 
Frelinghuysen, together with a senior member of the 
bar, the present Chief Justice Hornblower. In course 
of time the cause was tried, and the junior coimsel 
was the first to present it to the jury ; and so power- 
ful was his appeal, that the jury, though the case is 
said to have been clearly one of manslaughter at least, 
immediately acquitted the prisoner. He dwelt with 
great pathos upon the situation of the defendant as 
one calling for the sympathies of the court and jury. 
Every thing was combined to darken his prospects: 
poverty, friendlessness, insignificance in public estima- 

* Governors and Chancellors. f Chief Justice. 

X -Members of Congress. 



AT THE BAR. 43 

tion on account of liis color, and his being a stranger 
and without relatives, all contributed to swell the tide 
against him. The solemnity of his situation excited 
a morbid interest in the cause, but none for him. The 
lonely condemned cell, the scaffold and executioner, 
the fatal rope, and the awful moment of death, would 
rouse curiosity, but not sympathy : iinthought of, un- 
regretted, would his spirit, if their verdict was ad- 
verse, rise from the horrid scaffold to the bar of judg- 
ment. Ideas something like these, clothed in the pur- 
est diction, animated by his vivid imagination, and 
delivered with surpassing eloquence, completely over- 
whelmed court, jury, and auditors; the judge (the 
Hon. Saml. L. Southard), though by no means a man 
easily affected, was overcome by his feelings; and 
thus having enlisted popular sympathy for the forlorn 
state of his client, Mr. Frelinghuy sen went on to argue 
the facts in so masterly a manner as quite to super- 
sede the necessity of his colleague's address, and tri- 
umphantly acquit his client. A gentleman of another 
profession, present at the time, afterward said, in ref- 
erence to it, ' I shall never forget the impression made 
upon me by the address of Mr. Frelinghuysen on that 
occasion. Though I was then but twelve or thirteen 
years of age, it has never left me, and ever since I have 
regarded him with intense interest from the feelings 
which his pathetic eloquence excited.' " 

The same writer from whom we have just quoted 
proceeds to describe thus the elements of Mr. Freling- 
huysen's professional ability and the grounds of his 
reputation : " The eloquence by which his forensic ef- 
forts were distinguished ; his voice clear, mellow, and 



44: LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

full ; his manly appearance, brilliant imagination, ve- 
hement declamation, and fine flow of language, togeth- 
er with his acute knowledge of human nature, accu- 
rate legal acquirements, strong reasoning powers, and 
stern adherence to right, rendered him the most pop- 
ular advocate at the bar of Eastern ISTew Jersey." 

In the outset of his career he exhibited the active 
love of country which he inherited from his father, 
and which characterized all his subsequent career. In 
the war of 1812 a draft of every seventh man was 
made upon the citizens of Essex County for the gov- 
ernment service. He escaped the lot, but, with a num- 
ber of others who were in the same situation, formed 
a volunteer company of riflemen, of which he took 
the command. Among the members of the company 
was the Rev. S. H. Cox, D.D,, who acted as the cap- 
tain's orderly, and who relates with great vivacity the 
thoroughness of the drill, the enthusiasm of the rank 
and file, and the fine appearance they presented when 
reviewed by the governor of the state on the nation- 
al anniversary. They were never called into active 
service, but they lacked only the occasion, not the will. 
When the city of New York was supposed to be in 
danger from its defenseless situation, Mr. Frelinghuy- 
sen was among the most active in inducing the citi- 
zens of Newark to come to its aid with upward of 
nine hundred able-bodied men, who, with spade and 
pickaxe, rendered most efficient service in throwing 
up intrenchments on Brooklyn Heights and South 
Brooklyn. Fifty years afterward, when the countrj^ 
was threatened with the far greater danger of an in- 
ternal foe, the voice of Theodore Frelinghuysen rang 



AT THE BAR. 45 

out in clarion tones, which showed that age had not 
chilled the patriotic fires of youth, nor the peaceful 
pursuits of education and literature deadened his sen- 
sibilities to the honor of his country and the mainte- 
nance of her government. With his own hand he 
raised the national banner on the College grounds, 
and accompanied the act with a speech, in the course 
of which he said: "Our forefathers felt the defects 
springing from the independence of single states, and 
saw that there could be neither glory nor safety in 
thirteen little independent factions. Hence the fram- 
ers of the Constitution assembled for the purpose of 
forming a wise and permanent bond of union. The 
Union formed then is the Union of to-day ; and under 
it our prosperity has been so great that we are all 
willing to sacrifice the last drop of our blood to see it 
maintained against traitors. The forbearance of the 
Korth was simply the calmness of conscious strength. 
The first cannon-shot, however, against Sumter struck 
the great heart of the American people, and that 
heart will never cease beating until this wrong is 
avenged. Despising the remedies offered by the Con- 
stitution itself for redressing their supposed grievan- 
ces, they, just as wicked men always do, have gathered 
their forces, have stolen forts and arsenals, have plun- 
dered our public property, have murdered innocent 
citizens, and are now endeavoring to coil among the 
Stars and Stripes a serpent whose fangs shall strike 
out the emblems of seven states from its glorious folds. 
If a foreign foe had done this, the nation would have 
risen np as one man to hurl down the aggressor. 
How much worse is it when the foe came from with- 



46 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

in our own bosom ! In fact, a more monstrous crime 
has not been perpetrated since the crucifixion of our 
Lord and Savior. We must fight : there is no alter- 
native. Eebellion must be crushed, and then we shall 
once more become a happy and united people." 

Nor were these stirring words the mere efferves- 
cence of a temporary excitement, but the expression 
of a deep and settled conviction, founded upon Mr. 
Frelinghuy sen's origin, training, studies, and experi- 
ence. And he never wavered. Even when lying 
upon the bed from which he knew that he was never 
to arise, and in full view of the solemn realities of the 
life to come, his interest in the national cause was un- 
abated, and tidings of any success of the Union forces 
would call forth a prompt and hearty expression of 
joy and gratitude. Like his father before him, he was 
a patriot to the last, unconditionally and without res- 
ervation. 

Mr. Frelinghuy sen's practice, after 1812, became ex- 
tensive and lucrative. He attended the courts in all 
the northern counties of New Jersey, every where 
acquiring a like reputation with that he had obtain- 
ed at home. His legal and personal character dai- 
ly raised him in public estimation, until, in 1817, he 
was appointed attorney general of the state — an of- 
fice which, at that time, was one of immense care and 
responsibility. The holder of it was not only the 
legal adviser of the state, but in person or by depu- 
ty supervised the administration of the criminal stat- 
utes throughout the commonwealth. There were 
in this appointment some circumstances exceedingly 
complimentary to Mr. Frelinghuy sen. The legislative 



AT THE BAE. 47 

majority by wliom it was conferred were opposed to 
him in politics, and had able and prominent men of 
their own party before them for election. He was 
chosen, too, as indeed was the case with all the public 
honors and offices conferred upon him through life, 
without any solicitation on his part, and in the pres- 
ent instance without any expectation, as at the time 
he was engaged in his practice in a remote part of the 
state. He was afterward twice reappointed as his 
term of office expired ; and when he resigned, did so 
in consequence of being elected, in 1829, a senator of 
the United States for the State of New Jersey. 

No man ever filled the office of attorney general 
more to the satisfaction of the people than he. It was 
the field for the proper display of the lofty integrity, 
private and professional, which was always his pecul- 
iar distinction. Guilt, whenever it appeared, he pros- 
ecuted with every energy he could command, while 
in his dealings with the depraved he ever pursued so 
fair and just a course that even they who suffered 
from his efforts dared not blame them. He never 
sank the attorney general in the advocate of a side. 
Eepresenting the majesty of the state, his endeavor 
was to ferret out the guilty and discover truth, not to 
gain his cause or to extend his fame. While he oc- 
cupied this post, he was, in 1820, elected by the Legis- 
lature to a seat upon the bench of the Supreme Court 
of the state, a position usually deemed a fitting goal 
for the honorable ambition of a New Jersey lawyer. 
This, however, he declined, preferring to continue in 
the more active branch of the profession. 

The reputation of Mr.Frelinghuysen attracted many 



48 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

young men to his office as students of the law, and pa- 
rents were always glad to place their sons nnder such 
a wholesome influence. He dealt faithfully and kind- 
ly with them all, and never failed to win their affec- 
tionate admiration and regard. They looked up to 
him as a friend and father, and throughout life cher- 
ished for him the highest esteem. From one of these, 
now eminent at the bar, the author has had the pleas- 
ure of receiving an authentic statement respecting 
Mr. Frelinghuysen's professional character and course, 
which is here reproduced almost in the writer's own 
words. 

His moral influence upon his associates at the bar 
was very great and very salutary, l^o one ever 
questioned the sincerity of his religious professions. 
Hence his pure life was a constant power, felt and ac- 
knowledged by all. Probably no bar in this country 
ever presented a more uniform exhibition of moral 
integrity, high and honorable principle, and gentle- 
manly bearing than that of New Jersey during the 
first third of this century. This must have been due 
to some eminent examples in the profession, as well 
of an earlier as of a later day ; and no individual ex- 
ample exerted a more benign and powerful influence 
than that of Mr. Frelinghuysen during the whole of 
his career. How many lines of influence go out, like 
the rays of the sun, in every direction, from a pure 
anrl lofty character ! 

The intellectual characteristics of Mr. Frelinghuy- 
sen as a lawyer partook of his general nature. His 
mind was strikingly rapid, correct, and comprehen- 
sive. His judgments seemed almost intuitive. He 



AT THE BAE. 49 

seized at once the strong points of a cause, never con- 
fused or embarrassed by immaterial facts or points, 
but always coming directly to that which was essen- 
tial and decisive. An illustration of his correct and 
rapid judgment may be gained from the testimony 
of one who knew him intimately for many years. 
" Whenever I had a case of difficulty or perplexity, I 
was in the habit of going to my friend A., my senior 
at the bar, for advice. He had a very fertile and in- 
genious mind, and would soon suggest half a dozen 
explanations or expedients to obviate the difficulty, 
but would not decide positively on any one of them. 
I would then go to Mr. Frelinghuysen. He at once 
would tell me which of them all was the true solu- 
tion, and I never knew him to make a mistake." 

This sagacity in discriminating the essential from 
the non-essential gave him a complete mastery over 
forms and technicalities. He rose above them, and by 
the simplicity and directness of his legal diction, in 
documents as w^ell as in discussions, he often evinced 
his j)Ower of making forms instead of being made by 
them. On one occasion, when dining with his profes- 
sional associates at the hotel of a country town, while 
he was attorney general, a messenger from the grand 
jury came to him for the form of an indictment in 
some case which they had agreed to present. He im- 
mediately called for pen and ink, and in a few mo- 
ments wrote out an indictment on the crown of his hat, 
dispatched it to the jury-room, and resumed his din- 
ner. " I think," said one of his legal brethren pres- 
ent, "that you are now entitled to be called a crown 
lawyer, if never before." But all knew too well his 

C 



60 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

accuracy, and his ability to defend his own work, to 
assail it with any technical objections afterward. 

From the time when he took his first successful po- 
sition at the bar of New Jersey in 1812, until he went 
to New York in 1838, he was engaged in almost every 
important cause which arose in the state. During this 
protracted period he acted as one of the pioneers of 
the law in establishing legal principles and settling 
precedents which, as they have stood in the past, will 
continue to stand for years to come. Yet very few 
traces of his forensic ability have been preserved in a 
permanent form. His speeches were never written 
out in full, and the movement of his eloquence was so 
rapid, so brilliant, so like a whirlwind in its sweep, 
that no ordinary reporter could catch the winged 
words as they flew from his gifted, almost inspired 
lips. The impression he produced was for the time 
being complete and overpowering. His speech in an 
important slander case. Hall vs. Orant, tried in New- 
ark in 1821, was characterized by all the prominent 
pecu.liarities of his eloquence, and long afterward was 
referred to with admiration by those who heard it; 
yet the report which has been preserved of it gives to 
those who never knew the man no conception what- 
ever of his extraordinary power. 

The best report extant of any of his forensic efforts 
is that of the argument made by him in 1833 in what 
is commonly known as the great Quaker case. This 
cause convulsed the whole state with excitement, and 
even affected its political character in after years. It 
arose from a dispute between two parties into which 
the society of Friends had become divided, the Ortho- 



AT THE BAK. 51 

dox and the Hicksites, respecting the control of the 
public property of the body. The result of the suit 
was to establish the principle for which Mr. Freling- 
huysen and his associate counsel contended, viz., that 
when a religious society is rent in twain, and the par- 
ties separate on account of differences of sentiment, 
that portion which adheres to the original principles 
of the society is entitled to the funds raised for the pro- 
motion of its religious and benevolent objects. The 
same doctrine has been held in other controversies of 
a similar character in this country and in Britain. 
This case was one exactly fitted for the display of Mr. 
Frelinghuysen's peculiar talents. Apart from the im- 
mense pecuniary interests at stake, it brought up great 
principles for investigation, and involved a discussion 
of the social value and relations of cardinal religious 
doctrines. The dry routine of technical law gave 
place to the consideration of those views which gov- 
ern the course of the statesman and the philanthropist. 
The argument in this celebrated case began in the 
Court of Appeals at Trenton on the 7th of July, and 
continued for about a month, the mere reading of the 
evidence consuming nine days. The counsel for the 
Hicksites were the Hon. Garret D. Wall and Samuel 
L. Southard ; for the Orthodox, George Wood and Mr. 
Frelinghuysen. The case having been decided by the 
chancellor in favor of the Orthodox, the Hicksites had 
appealed, and consequently their counsel had the open- 
ing and reply. General Wall occupied four days in 
the discussion, Mr. Wood two and a half, Mr. Freling- 
huysen three, and Mr. Southard four and a half. At 
the close of the argument on the 15th of August, the 



52 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

court immediately aflS.rmed the chancellor's decision 
by a vote of seven to four. The great length of time 
consumed in the case was owing chiefly to the fact 
that the Society of Friends had no formal written creed 
or Confession of Faith ; and hence their fundamental 
doctrines had to be elicited by a careful reference to 
the writings of the founders of the society, Penn, Bar- 
clay, Fox, and others, and to the prevailing tenor of 
its teaching and discipline during the intervening pe- 
riod of a century and a half This wide range of in- 
vestigation required much recondite study, and the ex- 
ercise of sharp discrimination and solid judgment in 
the handling of the materials. Perhaps the salient 
excellencies of Mr. Frelinghuysen's mind were never 
more happily exhibited than in his masterly analysis 
of the evidence and the authorities relied upon in this 
case. 

The opening counsel, apprehensive, probably, that 
his cause could not be supported on sound legal prin- 
ciples, insinuated that the court, being a court of last 
resort, and forming (as it did at that time) one branch 
of the Legislature, like the British House of Lords, 
were not bound by the rigid rules of established law, 
but might draw on their legislative authority, and de- 
cide according to their own notions of justice. It was 
a shrewd temptation to the judges to liberate them- 
selves from the trammels of law, and seek to carve 
out some popular compromise to suit the prejudices 
of the hour. Mr. Frelinghuysen met the suggestion 
with a severe rebuke. " Your honors," said he, " have 
a high and sacred trust to administer. This forum is 
the last resort of truth. She casts her hopes on your 



AT THE BAR. 53 

threshold. I have no doubt that you will weigh well 
her claims. But even if truth can not stand without 
invading the functions of legislative authority, let her 
fall. Better that she should fall than that the great 
pillars of law and order should be overthrown. This 
doctrine, drawn from a volume of ecclesiastical re- 
ports, is a monstrous perversion of British law. It 
never furnished a pebble to the system which the 
American jurist delights to study. Why was it pick- 
ed up here? Why was it brought forward at the 
opening of this case ? What is it ? It means that 
when the House of Lords find a defect of judicial pow- 
er, they may draw upon their legislative department, 
and when there is no law, make a law to suit the case. 
* * * ^ It is a principle false in all its branches, as 
applied to the House of Lords sitting as a court of 
law or equity. That house has no legislative author- 
ity but in connection with the House of Commons 
and the king. Such a notion would destroy all cer- 
tainty and security in our systems of jurisprudence, 
and subvert the very foundations of property and 
right." 

The first part of his argument was directed to show 
that the Society of Friends had a real, substantive sys- 
tem of belief. They had, as has been stated, no for- 
mal confession or standard of faith. They generally 
expressed their views in the language of Scripture ; 
but Mr. Frelinghuysen contended that, in the selec- 
tion, and combination, and application of these pas- 
sages from the Bible, it clearly appeared what their 
distinctive principles and doctrines were. The other 
side contended that they also believed in the Bible, 



54 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

and therefore held the views expressed in its lan- 
guage. To this he thus replied : "To say you believe 
in the Bible leaves the question unresolved. All but 
downright infidels say this. What does the Bible 
teach, what does it enforce, and what does it prohibit ? 
These are the material distinguishing inquiries. There 
is not a Unitarian church in the country in which 
you will not find the Bible on the desk, in which they 
do not read from its pages, in which they do not speak 
of God and of virtue with reverence and admiration ; 
yet, when questioned as to what they believe, you find 
that they believe in nothing essential to Christianity. 
When they reject the great doctrines of the divinity 
of the Savior, the atonement, and the inspiration of the 
Scriptures, what remains to be received or rejected? 
The Jews believed in the Bible. They read it in their 
synagogues every Sabbath day. They carried parts 
of it about with them on their persons ; and yet they 
crucified the very Being to proclaim whose coming, 
and power, and work of redemption the Bible was 
given. Counsel tell us that the Society of Friends 
has no creed. The ancient members of that society 
were imprisoned on account of their faith. They have 
been brought before kings and magistrates, and com- 
pelled to give a statement of their belief. They have 
repeatedly put forth full and clear declarations of their 
views ; and yet, in the nineteenth century, we are told 
that the Friends have no creed ! The book of disci- 
pline makes it a duty to inquire periodically whether 
certain persons 'are sound in word and doctrine;' 
and yet we are told that they have no creed; that 
every man is to believe as he lists, without a leader, 
or guide, or system !" 



AT THE BAR. 55 

On the use of the language of Scripture as a vehi- 
cle for the expression of doctrinal views, Mr. Freling- 
huj^sen said : " The learned counsel, to show that the 
Friends have no creed, affirm that their declaratioiis 
of faith have always been expressed in scriptural lan- 
guage. Granting this, does it prove no creed? In 
what better clothing could they exhibit their faith ? 
I am not theologian enough to decide positively what 
is best upon a question like this ; but it seems to me 
that the safest and clearest exhibition of a man's be- 
lief may be expressed in the words of the Bible * * * 
While we adhere to these words, we have the best 
truth in the best language. "We know that, in litera- 
ry excellence, the English Bible is the best composi- 
tion in our language. Is it, then, matter of import- 
ance that the Friends should express their faith in its 
phrases ? Let the Separatists, if they can, furnish us 
with a better lodgment for the truth." 

Mr. Frelinghuysen then proceeded to show that the 
points before mentioned, the Deity of Christ, the Atone- 
ment, and the Inspiration of the Bible, were held by 
the society as fundamental articles of faith ; and that 
Elias Hicks and his followers had rejected these arti- 
cles, and therefore could not properly be said to be- 
long to the society as it was originally constituted, 
and had been continued in successive generations. 

It is well known that the Friends in New Jersey 
were nearly equally divided upon the opinions of 
Elias Hicks. The Court of Appeals, therefore, while 
they sustained the claim of the Orthodox party in 
point of law, recommended an amicable compromise 
in relation to the question in dispute. This advice 



56 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEN. 

was afterward sanctioned by a legislative enactment, 
and, being adopted by both parties, resulted in a gen- 
eral division of the property between them on equita- 
ble principles. 

Mr. Frelinghuysen took part in another cause of 
great moment in relation to both the private and the 
public interests involved. This was the New Jersey 
Proprietary case, Waddell vs. Martin. It concerned the 
ownership of all the lands under water around the en- 
tire coast, and along all the tide-water streams of New 
Jersey. These lands are of immense value as oyster- 
beds and fisheries. Some of them, in the vicinity of 
New York and elsewhere, are of still greater value for 
the purposes of reclamation and improvement. The 
question at issue was, Whether they belonged to the 
state by virtue of its sovereignty, or to the Board of 
Proprietors, who originally owned the title to all the 
lands in the state, and had never made any grant of 
the title to these lands now in dispute ? The Board 
of Proprietors claimed them as part of the private 
landed property of New Jersey; the state claimed 
them as belonging to the public domain. The former 
party retained Mr. Frelinghuysen, who supported their 
claim in a masterly argument before Judge Baldwin, 
of ^he Supreme Court of the United States, then hold- 
ino- circuit at Trenton. His effort was successful: 
Judge Baldwin decided in favor of the Proprietors; 
but on an appeal to the Supreme Court at Washing- 
ton, which was argued by other counsel after Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen had withdrawn from practice, the judg- 
ment was reversed, and the title of the state confirmed. 
This was about the last case in which he was en- 



AT THE BAR. 57 

gaged. He left the bar in 1838 to take the charge of 
a literary institution ; but his professional associates, 
and those who remember him as an advocate, uniform- 
ly contend that the bar was his proper sphere. It was 
in the forum that his peculiar gifts, his quick insight, 
his sharp discrimination, his impetuous eloquence, 
shone with greatest lustre. It is said that hardly a 
single Jersey lawyer of the last generation can be met, 
who will not, when reminded of Mr. Frelinghuysen's 
retirement to academic life, shake his head, and insist 
that that step was erroneously taken ; that a man so 
admirably adapted in every respect to the bar should 
have remained there ; and that to put him at the head 
of any university was like burying him in a marble 
mausoleum before his time had come. This state- 
ment does not lack some elements, or at least appear- 
ances of truth. Kor was Mr. Frelinghuysen insensi- 
ble to considerations of this kind. His friends, his as- 
sociations, his habits, his tastes, his pleasures, were all 
connected with the bar ; his practice yielded him. all 
the income he could ask or desire ; and he was mak- 
ing a great sacrifice in many ways in becoming Chan- 
cellor of the University. But mere personal consid- 
erations never controlled his mind. Where duty beck- 
oned, he had no hesitation in following. He believed 
that it was her voice which summoned him to New 
York ; nor has any one a right now to say that this 
was a mistake. Doubtless it had been better for his 
professional reputation, his private fortune, and his 
personal comfort to have continued in the arena al- 
ready thickly strewn with the trophies of his success. 
But no man liveth or ought to live only for himself. 

C2 



58 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

And it may well be that the Omniscient eye sees a far 
larger harvest of usefulness gathered from the pres- 
ence of Theodore Frelinghuysen in academic halls 
than could have been gained from the longest and 
most successful forensic career. 



IN THE SENATE. 69 



CHAPTER TV. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 

1829—1835. 

Composition of the Senate. — Great Questions agitated. — Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen's Course. — The Indian Bill. — The Sunday-Mail Ques- 
tion. — Day of Fasting for the Cholera. — Encomiums of Clay and 
Webster. — Letter of the Hon. Edward Everett. 

In the year 1829 Mr. Frelinghnysen took his seat 
in the Senate of the United States, where he continued 
until the expiration of the term for which he was elect- 
ed. During the first four years his colleague from New 
Jersey was the Hon. Mahlon Dickerson, afterward Sec- 
retary of the Navy under Presidents Jackson and Yan 
Buren ; during the remaining two years, his old class- 
mate, Samuel L. Southard, who had been Secretary of 
the Navy under Presidents Monroe and J. Q. Adams, 
was his associate. 

It has generally been admitted that the Senate nev- 
er contained a larger number of eminent men than it 
did at this period. The leading minds of every sec- 
tion of the country and of every political party were 
to be found on the floor of the upper house of Con- 
gress. Among these, three names stand out with a 
prominence not to be mistaken. Even now the per- 
son, character, policy, and influence of Daniel Webster, 
of Henry Clay, and of John C. Calhoun, are better 
known than those of more than one holder of that 
great prize, the presidential chair, after which they 



60 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

all unsuccessfully aspired, and will be freshly remem- 
bered long after the latter are buried in oblivion. 
These three differed widely in their origin, training, 
and cast of mind, but they were all men of strongly- 
marked character, of unusual natural gifts, and well 
adapted to lead great parties in the republic. Each 
was a well-read lawyer, an experienced legislator, a 
far-seeing statesman, and a practiced debater; and 
when they met in the Senate in opposition to the 
administration of General Jackson, it was in the ma- 
turity of their powers and fame. But besides these 
there were many others in the Senate inferior only to 
them in ability and influence. Such were Holmes of 
Maine, Woodbury of New Hampshire, Foot of Con- 
necticut, Bobbins of Ehode Island, Marcy and Wright 
of New York, Dallas and Wilkins of Pennsylvania, 
Clayton of Delaware, Kives, Tyler, and Tazewell of 
Virginia, Alangum of North Carolina, Hayne and Pres- 
ton of South Carolina, Forsyth of Georgia, King of 
Alabaraa, Poindexter of Mississippi, Edward Living- 
ston of Louisiana, Grundy and White of Tennessee, 
Bibb of Kentucky, Ewing of Ohio, and Benton of 
Missouri ; every one of whom not only achieved dis- 
tinction in his own state, but also had considerable na- 
tional reputation.* 

The period of Mr. Frelinghuysen's senatorial serv- 
ice was distinguished by the importance of the issues 
before the country, as well as by the greatness of the 
men who discussed and decided them. The bold and 
pronounced character of General Jackson did not al- 

* One half of them cither had been, or became cabinet officers or 
representatives of the country at foreign courts. 



IN THE SENATE. 61 

low him to follow tortuous courses or pursue an 
equivocal policy. On every question lie took his po- 
sition clearly, and was prepared to push his opponents 
to the wall. Debate was not confined to side issues or 
incidental points, but touched fundamental principles, 
and affected questions coeval with the formation of the 
government. The currency, the tariff, the autonomy 
of the Indian tribes, the scope of pension laws, the 
powers of the executive in relation to Congress, and 
the powers of the general government in relation to 
the states— these, and such as these, were the great 
themes which then occupied the time and thought of 
the statesmen of the country. On the last of these is- 
sues our generation has seen a decision practically 
reached by force of arms in resistance to a causeless 
and treacherous rebellion. But the principles under- 
lying that subject have never been more thoroughly, 
ably, and eloquently discussed than they were in the 
years 1832 and 1833. The whole case was then ex- 
hausted ; nor has any thing been added on either side, 
in the shape of argument, to what was then urged, al- 
though, of course, the appeal to force has forever set- 
tled the question, and shown that the proclamation of 
General Jackson in December, 1832, will henceforth 
be deemed a just exposition of the Federal Constitu- 
tion. 

In all these conflicts Mr. Frelinghuysen took a de- 
cided part, for he never affected a neutral position. 
Believing the principles of the party with which he 
acted to be correct and wise, he gave them a cordial 
and persistent support. But his fidelity to political 
associates never degenerated into mere partisanship. 



62 LIFE OF FRELIN'GHUYSEN". 

He disliked a factious opposition to the administra- 
tion, and rigidly confined his course to such measures 
as seemed clearly called for by the circumstances of 
the country. On one memorable occasion, when the 
Senate acted upon the nomination of the Hon. Martin 
Yan Buren as minister to Great Britain, Mr. Freling- 
huysen had great dif&culty in concurring with his 
party in a vote of disapproval. He, however, yielded 
at last, and his name stands upon the record with the 
majority in opposition to the nomination. But he al- 
ways declared that the measure, however justifiable, 
was an impolitic one, and predicted the very conse- 
quences which in a few years ensued from it. In- 
deed, his political sagacity was not often at fault. His 
coolness and fairness gave his mind fair play, and dis- 
embarrassed his judgment from the passions and prej- 
udices which frequently mislead very able men. 

At a time when party lines were very strictly 
drawn, and personal animosities added to the bitter- 
ness of political divisions, he still maintained an inde- 
pendent judgment; and although habitually acting 
with the opponents of the administration, he never 
hesitated to differ from them rather than violate his 
own sense of right. 

His participation in the business of the Senate jus- 
tified the hopes inspired by the success of his previous 
career. Although by no means the equal of any of 
the three great representatives of the East, West, and 
South, he yet held a prominent place in the commit- 
tee-room and on the floor of the Senate, and maintain- 
ed with signal ability the honor of the state he repre- 
sented. Indeed, it may be doubted whether New Jer- 



IN THE SENATE. 63 

sey ever had as mucli influence in tlie national coun- 
cils as when Frelinghuysen and Southard were her 
senators at Washington. Whether in formal discus- 
sions on great topics, or in the current debates from 
day to day, they were uniformly found equal to the 
call made upon them, and even political opponents 
could not deny the ability with which they upheld the 
policy they had espoused. 

Although there were seasons when the excitement of 
feeling reached a pitch almost unprecedented, Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen throughout preserved the highest stand- 
ard of senatorial dignity. He never descended to per- 
sonalities, never engaged in unseemly altercations. 
His dignified bearing, his transparent candor, his un- 
questionable integrity, and his high sense of honor, se- 
cured him the cordial respect of all parties. They 
who attended to his course saw in him a coolness, dis- 
crimination, insight, shrewdness, and capacity which 
marked him out as a something more than a mere 
politician or debater. He was a statesman. He took 
large views of things. He looked beyond present 
emergencies, and acted for the future. Ardently at- 
tached to his own patriotic state, and ever sensitive to 
whatever touched her honor or welfare, he yet re- 
membered that he was a senator of the United States, 
and legislated for the country as a whole. He was 
not a mere theorist, not *' an impracticable." Firm and 
immovable where the everlasting principles of recti- 
tude are concerned, well convinced that it is as true 
in history and experience as it is in Scripture that 
"righteousness exalteth a nation," he recognized the 
mixed elements with which every Legislature has to 



64 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEN. 

deal, the necessary limitations of all civil enactments, 
the wisdom of not governing too much, and the just 
claims of expediency in legislation. Notwithstanding 
the high conception of a free Christian commonwealth 
which lay at the basis of his public course, he was no 
Utopian. His ends were as rational as the means by 
which he pursued them. He may have erred in par- 
ticular measures, but the general scope of his policy 
was large, comprehensive, enhghtened, and judicious, 
yet eminently practical. 

The Hon. George Chambers, of Pennsylvania, his 
classmate at Princeton, who was a member of the 
House of Eepresentatives during two years of Mr. 
Frelinghuy sen's senatorial term, says of him that " he 
was attentive, considerate, and judicious in his action, 
and ever faithful to his constituents, the Union, and 
the welfare of his country. He was not hasty or im- 
pulsive under any excitement, and seldom spoke in 
debate ; but when he did, his remarks were appropri- 
ate, and commanded attention." 

THE INDIAN QUESTION. 

The first great topic on which Mr. Frelinghuysen 
addressed the Senate was the bill for the removal of 
the Indian tribes residing within states and organized 
territories of the Union, having particular reference to 
those within the limits of Georgia, Alabama, and Mis- 
sissippi. The lands occupied by these aborigines, be- 
ing admirably adapted to the growth of cotton, the 
culture of which had been greatly stimulated by the 
increasing price which the raw material obtained in 
the markets of the world, were looked upon by the 



IN THE SENATE. 65 

white population with covetous eyes, and every in- 
ducement was offered to the original proprietors to 
sell their title and remove. But the territory was 
equally desirable to them, not only as having been 
the home of their forefathers and the place of their 
sepulchres, but also as being, by its natural features, 
just the country suited to their tastes and habits. Its 
mixture of hill and valley, forest and prairie, its nu- 
merous springs and streams, its abundance of fish and 
game, its fertile soil and equable climate, were exactly 
suited to the half nomad, half planting life pursued 
by the great body of the Indians. They therefore al- 
most unanimously refused to sell. But their white 
neighbors were not to be foiled. They determined to 
make the Indians willing, and even eager to remove. 
This was accomplished by extending the state laws 
over them, with the abrogation of all their own '' laws, 
ordinances, orders, and regulations of any kind what- 
ever ;" by making it a penal offense for any person to 
endeavor, by any means, to prevent any Indian from 
emigrating; and by disqualifying any Indian from 
being a competent witness in courts in any case to 
which a white person was a party, unless such white 
person resided among the Indians. 

But, in order to give effect to these atrocious stat- 
utes, it was necessary to secure the assent of the fed- 
eral government, or, rather, to prevent the continu- 
ance of the protection hitherto given by it to the ab- 
origines against all intruders upon their lands. Ac- 
cordingly, in conformity to the suggestions of Presi- 
dent Jackson in his first annual message, a bill was 
introduced in Congress " providing for an exchange 



QQ LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

of lands witli tlie Indians residing in any of the states 
or territories, and for their removal west of the Mis- ■ 
sissippi Kiver." When this bill came up for consid- 
eration in the Senate, Mr. Frelinghuysen moved the 
following amendment : 

^^ Provided always, That, until the said tribes or na- 
tions shall choose to remove, as by this act is contem- 
plated, they shall be protected in their present posses- 
sions, and in the enjoyment of all their rights of ter- 
ritory and government, as heretofore exercised and 
enjoyed, from all interruptions and encroachments. 

^^ And provided also, That before any removal shall 
take place of any of the said tribes or nations, and be- 
fore any exchange or exchanges of land be made as 
aforesaid, that the right of any such tribes or nations 
in the premises shall be stipulated for, secured, and 
guarantied by treaty or treaties as heretofore made." 

These provisos were sustained by him in a speech 
of very great power and eloquence. He showed that 
the principles they involved were not only founded in 
everlasting truth and right, but had been acted upon 
ever since the adoption of the Constitution by all 
branches of the government, beginning with the Fa- 
ther of his Country^; that during the Bevolution, and 
under the Confederation, they had been expressly rec- 
ognized by the Continental Congress; and that, still 
earlier, the royal proclamations and ordinances from 
Great Britain had distinctly assumed the same ground. 
After reciting and explaining the various solemn treat- 
ies made by the national government with the Indian 
tribes, he riveted his argument by showing from the 
public records of the very states now engaged in this 






EST THE SENATE. 67 

oppression of tlie Indians, that treaties with these 
tribes were recorded on their own statute-books as 
parts of their land titles, and that thus, by their own 
act, they were concluded on the point in question. 
The following is the peroration of this remarkable ef- 
fort: 

" Sir, our fears have been addressed in behalf of 
those states whose legislation we resist; and it is in- 
quired with soHcitude, would you urge us to arms 
with Georgia? No, sir. This tremendous alterna- 
tive will not be necessary. Let the general govern- 
ment come out, as it should, with decided and temper- 
ate firmness, and officially announce to Georgia, and 
the other states, that if the Indian tribes choose to re- 
main, they will be protected against all interference 
and encroachment ; and such is my confidence in the 
sense of justice, in the respect for law, prevailing in 
that great body of this portion of our fellow-citizens, 
that I believe they would submit to the authority of 
the nation. I can expect no other issue. But if the 
general government be urged to the crisis, never to be 
anticipated, of appealing to the last resort of her pow- 
ers ; and when reason, argument, and persuasion fail, 
to raise her strong arm to repress the violations of the 
supreme law of the land, I ask, is it not in her bond, 
sir ? Is her guaranty a rope of sand ? This effective 
weapon has often been employed, to chastise the poor 
Indians, sometimes with dreadful vengeance I fear, 
and shall not their protection avail to draw it from the 
scabbard ? Permit me to refer the Senate to the views 
of Mr. Jefferson, directly connected with this delicate, 
yet sacred duty of protection. In 1791, when he was 
Secretary of State, there were some symptoms of col- 
lision on the Indian subject. This induced the letter 
from him to General Knox, then our Secretary of 
War, a part of which I will read : ' I am of opinion 



i 



68 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEK 

that government should firmly maintain this ground: 
that the Indians have a right to the occujxiiioyi of their 
lands ^ tndejoendent of the states within "whose chartered 
limits they happen to be ; that until they cede them 
hy treaty, or other transaction equivalent to a treaty, 
no act of a state can give a right to such lands ; that 
neither under the present Constitution, nor the ancient 
Confederation, had any state or persons a right to treat 
with the Indians, without the consent of the general 
government ; that the consent has never been given 
by any treaty for the cession of the lands in question ; 
that the government is determined to exert all its en- 
ergy for the patronage and protection of the rights of 
the Indians, and the preservation of peace between the 
United States and them ; and that if any settlements 
are made on lands not ceded hy them, without the pre- 
vious consent of the United States, the government 
will think itself bound, not only to declare to the In- 
dians that such settlements are without the authority 
or protection of the United States, but to remove them 
also hy 2^uhlic force.'' 

"Mr. Jefferson seems to have been disturbed by no 
morbid sensibilities. He speaks out as became a de- 
termined statesman. We can trace in this document 
the same spirit which shed its influence on a more 
eventful paper — the declaration of our rights, and of 
our purpose to maintain and defend them. He look- 
ed right onward, in the broad path of public diity ; 
and if, in his way, he met the terrors of state collision 
and conflict, he was in no degree intimidated. The 
faith of treaties was his guide; and he would not 
flinch in his purposes, nor surrender the Indians to 
state encroachments. Let such decided policy go forth 
in the majesty of our laws now, and, sir, Georgia will 
yield. She will never encounter the responsibilities 
or the horrors of a civil war. But if she should, no 
stains of blood will be on our skirts ; on herself the 
guilt will abide forever. 



IN THE SENATE. 69 

"Mr. President, if we abandon these aboriginal pro- 
prietors of onr soil — these early allies and adopted 
children of our forefathers, how shall we justify it to 
our country? to all the glory of the past, and the prom- 
ise of the future? Her good name is worth all else 
besides that contributes to her greatness. And, as I 
regard this crisis in her history, the time has come 
when this unbought treasure shall be plucked from 
dishonor, or abandoned to reproach. 

"How shall we justify this trespass to ourselves? 
Sir, we may deride it, and laugh it to scorn now ; but 
the occasion luill meet every man, when he must look 
inward, and make honest inquisition there. Let us 
beware how, by oppressive encroachments upon the 
sacred privileges of our Indian neighbors, we minister 
to the agonies of future remorse. 

" I have, in my humble measure, attempted to dis- 
charge a public and most solemn duty toward an in- 
teresting portion of my fellow-men. Should it prove 
to be as fruitless .as I know it to be below the weight 
of their claims, yet even then, sir, it will have its con- 
solations. Defeat in such a cause is far above the tri- 
umphs of unrighteous power ; and in the language of 
an eloquent writer, ' I had rather receive the blessing 
of one poor Cherokee, as he casts his last look back 
upon his country, for having, though in vain, attempt- 
ed to prevent his banishment, than to sleep beneath 
the marble of all the Ci^sars.' " 

But all this display of argument, research, elo- 
quence, whether by Mr. Frelinghuysen or others, was 
in vain. The question became mingled inextricably 
with the party divisions of the times ; and the over- 
whelming popularity of General Jackson concurred 
with the pecuniary interests of the states immediately 
concerned to defeat the provisos, and the original bill 
was passed, although by inconsiderable majorities. 



70 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

numbering, indeed, in the lower house of Congress, 
only five votes. But Mr. Frelinghuysen's able advo- 
cacy of the cause of right, humanity, and Christian 
principle brought him prominently before the nation, 
secured him the title of the Christian Statesman, and 
made his name familiar as a household word to all the 
people of God throughout the land. The annexed 
stanzas, by one who has since attained an unhappy 
notoriety, may be taken as an expression of the feel- 
ings, not of the writer only, but of the great body of 
American Christians : 

TO THE HON. THEODORE FRELINGHtJYSEN, ON READING HIS ELO- 
QUENT SPEECH IN DEFENSE OF INDIAN RIGHTS. 

BY W. L. GAEEISON. 

If unto marble statues thou hadst spoken, 

Or icy hearts congealed by polar years, 
The strength of thy pure eloquence had broken, 

Its generous heat had melted them to tears ; 
Which pearly drops had been a rainbow token, 

Bidding the red men soothe their gloomy fears. 

If Honor, Justice, Truth had not forsaken 

The place long hallowed as their bright abode, 

The faith of treaties never had been shaken. 

Our country would have kept the trust she owed ; 

Nor Violence nor Treacheiy had taken 

Away those rights which Nature's God bestowed. 

Fruitless thy mighty efforts — vain appealing 

To grasping Avarice, that ne'er relents ; 
To party power, that shamelessly is stealing, 

Banditti-like, whatever spoil it scents ; 
To base Intrigue, his cloven foot revealing, 

That struts in Honesty's habiliments. 

Our land, once green as Paradise, is hoary, 
E'en in its youth, with tyranny and crime ; 

Its soil with blood of Afric's sons is gory. 
Whose wrongs eternity can tell, not time. 

The red man's woes shall swell the damning story, 
To be rehearsed in every age and clime. 



IN THE SENATE. 71 

Yet, Frelinghiiysen, gratitude is due thee, 
And loftier praise than language can supply ; 

Guilt may denounce and Calumny pursue thee, 
And pensioned Impudence thy worth decry ; 

Brilliant and pure, posterity shall view thee 
As a fair planet in a troublous sky. 

Be not dismayed. On God's own strength relying, 
Stand boldly up, meek soldier of the Cross ; 

For thee ten thousand prayers are heavenward flying ; 
• Thy soul is purged from earthly rust and dross. 

Patriot and Christian, ardent, self-denying, 
How could we bear resignedly thy loss ? 

THE SUNDAY-MAIL QUESTION. 

Prior to the year 1810 there was no law of Con- 
gress requiring the transportation of the mail and the 
delivery of its contents on the Lord's day. In that 
year, however, a statute was enacted, the 9th section 
of which made it "the duty of the postmaster, at all 
reasonable hours, on evei^y day of the weeh^ to deliver 
on demand any letter, paper," etc. Thus, what was 
before a matter of courtesy, became one of obligation. 
If the Postmaster General directed a mail to be car- 
ried on the first day of the week, the deputy was re- 
quired to be in his office and receive it. Such an inva- 
sion of the sacredness of the day of rest did not pass 
without notice. Petitions and memorials requesting 
the repeal of the statute were presented in 1811, 1812, 
1815, and 1817, without effect. In 1828 and 1829 a 
more formal and concerted effort was made, and me- 
morials were sent in from all parts of the country. A 
report in opposition to the prayer of the petitioners 
was made to the Senate by the Hon. Eichard M. John- 
son, of Kentucky, on the 19th of January, 1829 ; and 
in the next year a similar, but much more elaborate 
report was made to the House of Representatives by 



72 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

the same gentleman, wlio liad in tlie interval been 
transferred from the upper to the lower house of 
Congress. This second report of Colonel Johnson was 
made on the 4th of March, 1830. It aroused still 
more the feelings alike of the friends and the foes of 
the proposed reform. The question was extensively 
agitated in the pulpit and by the press, and the senti; 
ment was very general among the Christian commu- 
nity that no pains should be spared to secure proper 
legislation on the point. Especially was it expected 
of Christian men in Congress that they would exert 
themselves in favor of the sanctity of the Sabbath. 

On Tuesday, the 9th of March, 1830, Mr. Freling- 
huysen offered the following paper in the Senate: 

" The Sabbath is justly regarded as a divine insti- 
tution, closely connected with individual and nation- 
al prosperity. No Legislature can rightly resist its 
claims; and although the Congress of the United 
States, from the peculiar and limited constitution of 
the general government, can not by law enforce its 
observance, yet, as they should not, by positive legis- 
lation, encroach upon the sacredness of this day, or 
weaken its authority in the estimation of the people, 
therefore it is 

^' Resolved^ That the Committee on the Post-office 
and Post-roads be instructed to report a bill repealing 
so much of the act on the regulation of post-offices as 
requires the delivery of letters, packets, and papers on 
the Sabbath ; and, farther, to prohibit the transporta- 
tion of the mail on that day." 

This resolution did not come up for consideration 
until the 8th of May, when its author addressed the 



IN THE SENATE. 73 

Senate at length in its support. He was listened to 
with great attention by the House, and his argument 
was deemed cogent enough to require a reply from 
the celebrated Edward Livingston, of Louisiana. 

A few extracts from this speech will indicate the 
course of his argument : 

" The public recognition of the Sabbath is recorded 
in our federal Constitution. The President of the 
United States, in the discharge of the high functions 
of his legislative department, is expressly relieved 
from all embarrassment on Sunday. The business 
of the Supreme Court, the highest judicial tribunal 
of the country, is by law directed to be suspended 
on Sunday. Both houses of Congress, the offices of 
the State, Treasury, War, and Navy Departments, are 
all closed on Sunday, and all the states of the Union, 
I believe (twenty-three of them certainly), by explicit 
legislative enactments, acknowledge and declare the 
religious authority of the Sabbath. Sir, these state 
laws do not merely notice this day, but they in terms 
require its religious observance, and prohibit its prof- 
anation iinder proper penalties." 

" The example of the Old World also pleads pow- 
erfully in behalf of this sacred institution. London, 
with all its wealth, business, and enterprise, regards the 
Sabbath. No mail is opened or closed on that day. 
And although there is probably five times as much 
commerce between London and Liverpool as between 
New York and Philadelphia, no mail leaves the me- 
tropolis for Liverpool between Saturday evening and 
Monday morning ; and the mercantile classes of these 
communities make no complaint of this interruption. 
No, sir, they rejoice at the relief and refreshment from 
the toils of worldly business ; that on one day in sev- 
en there may be a pause in the anxieties of eager spec- 
ulation ; and that even selfish cupidity is compelled 
to suspend its pursuits. Now, sir, in this review of 

D 



74 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

the case, it must appear a most singular prejudice that 
is now excited and raised against all efforts to restore 
our national legislation to a consistency with its own 
principles, so often avowed. It is as absurd as it is un- 
just. Every state of the Union has, from its very or- 
igin, preserved just such a connection between Church 
and State as is now deprecated, and by means much 
more rigorous than the repeal of this oppressive sec- 
tion. They have fixed the day ; they have enjoined 
its observance; they have specified and prohibited its 
profanation in particular details, and annexed the sanc- 
tions of legal penalties ; and yet, after all this, when 
Congress is respectfully requested to be passive, and 
not to command its violation^ but to leave the Sabbath 
alone, the note of alarm is sounded (and many good 
men are deluded by it) that a dangerous conspiracy is 
meditated against the freedom of conscience." 

"Congress is not asked to legislate into existence 
the precepts of piety. No, these are enacted already ; 
they can never be repealed, and it is a most dangerous 
and destructive delusion to suppose that while, as in- 
dividuals and families, we are bound to respect the 
principles of religion, yet, when we assume the char- 
acter of states and nations, these cease to exert any 
legitimate influence. Such was not the political faith 
of the Father of his Country. Washington loved to 
cherish that connection between Church and State 
which led to universal public and private virtue, and 
this result, he deeply realized, could flow alone from 
the prevalence of religious principles." 

'' Sir, this day is the aegis of a republican and free 
people. It is the poor man's friend. It elevates him 
and his family by promoting decency of manners, 
neatness, and order. It is the only time which the 
necessities of his condition and the constitution of so- 
ciety spare to him for rest and reflection ; and hence 
every inroad upon its sacredness is a direct attack 
upon his best privileges. I believe, sir, that the ad- 



IN THE SENATE. 75 

versary of our race, could he be permitted to select 
the single object, would strike the blow at this divine 
institution. He would say resign to me this great mor- 
al lever ; let my votaries drive on the pursuits of busi- 
ness, the schemes of enterprise and ambition, without 
interruption ; let there be no time for man to reflect, 
to gather in his thoughts, to renew his life, and to con- 
sider his origin and his destiny, and I desire no more. 
Mr. President, the Sabbath was made for man, not to 
be contemned and forgotten ; the constitution of his 
nature requires just such a season. It is identified 
• with his moral tendencies. God has ordained it in in- 
finite benevolence. The reason for it, as recorded in 
his Word, was his own example. It began with crea- 
tion. The first week of time was blessed with a Sab- 
bath. The garden of Eden would not have smiled in 
all its loveliness had not the light of this day shone 
upon it. Blot it out, and the hope of the world is ex- 
tinguished. When the whirlwind raged in France, 
how was it, sir? They could not carry their measures 
of ferocity and blood while this last palladium of vir- 
tue remained. Desolation seemed to pause in its 
course — its waves almost subsided — when the spirits 
of evil struck this hallowed day from the calendar, 
and enacted a decade to the goddess of Keason, after 
which the besom swept all before it. 

"I firmly believe that the repeal of this single section 
and the suspension of the mail would exert the hap- 
piest influence. It would call up public attention. It 
would present the claims of the Sabbath with such 
weight of authority as would, I hope, establish and 
perpetuate it as an effective defense around our free in- 
situtions. The mail arrested and the post-ofiice closed 
on Sunday! by the solemn authority of Congress! 
who can fail to perceive the noble impulse that would 
be given? Sir, this would correct all false and de- 
grading estimates of this sacred day ; it would almost 
of itself form a public sentiment. The flood of vice 



76 LIFE OF FRELIXGHUYSEN. 

and infidelity would be stayed in their course. Such 
high example would silence the cavils of the profane, 
and this, as I understand it, is the true old-fashioned 
way to popularity. It is not that sickly principle 
which flatters public vices and connives at national 
sins, but which, in the purity of its purposes, dares to 
rebuke them, and b}^ wise and wholesome measures to 
correct them." 

The following notices of this speech are found in 
the correspondence of Jeremiah Evarts. Under date 
of May 8, 1830, he writes, " This day Mr. Frelinghuy- ' 
sen called up his resolution in relation to Sabbath 
mails, and, I am sorry to say, I was absent. I have 
heard from a spectator that he spoke an hour and a 
half or more, and very much to the purpose. Mr. 
Livingston replied in a speech of three quarters of an 
hour, in which he gained no credit. It was a low 
piece of bar-room talk about Church and State, the 
Blue Laws of Connecticut, hanging witches in Salem, 
etc., etc. Mr. F., in a short reply, made Mr. L. rather 
ashamed of his tirade." Again, under date of May 16, 
" Mr. Frelinghuysen's discussion of the Sabbath-mail 
Question is spoken of with great approbation by those 
who heard it. His reply to Mr. Livingston was very 
hfippy. Mr. Hillhouse [himself a member of the Sen- 
ate from 1796 to 1810] was delighted with Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen's argument."* 

The failure of this effort to guard the Sabbath from 
profanation under the forms of law was owing, doubt- 
less, to the imperfect degree to which the Christian 
sentiment of the country was at that day developed. 

* Tracy's Life of Evarts, pp. 369, 371 . 



I 



IN THE SENATE. 77 

This general cause was aided by the unwise measures 
adopted and the uncharitable spirit exhibited by some 
of the advocates of the Sabbath, and also by the art- 
ful manner in which the movement was represented 
as an interference with the rights of conscience and an 
insidious attempt to unite Church and State. There 
can be but little doubt, however, that the agitation of 
the subject in the halls of Congress awakened public 
attention to it, elicited the interest and zeal of Chris- 
tians, and thus prepared the way for the movements 
in subsequent years, which, beginning at a different 
point, and operating in other forms, have caused a re- 
duction of Sunday-mail service to an amount scarcely 
one fourth of what it was when the question was first 
mooted. The exact influence of public movements is 
not always correctly gauged by the measure of imme- 
diate success they gain. While for the time being the 
enemies of religion seemed to have achieved a victo- 
ry in the matter of Sabbath observance, the earnest, 
and repeated, and thorough discussions of the subject 
through the press and on the platform consolidated 
Christian sentiment, and led, in the end, to a quiet but 
very great revolution in the tone and policy of the 
leaders of political opinion and action. 

DAY OF FASTING FOR THE CHOLERA. 

Early in the year 1832 the country was agitated by 
reports of the steady progress toward this country of 
a scourge which, originating in the farthest East, had 
swept over Europe, and every where spread destruc- 
tion and dismay. At the present time, repeated vis- 
itations of the plague have made us familiar with its 



78 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

character and with the appropriate remedies. Bat 
thirty years ago the terror caused by its ravages was 
greatly increased by its novelty, and the seeming use- 
lessness of all means to evade or resist it. Soon after 
its first appearance on American shores, Mr. Clay of- 
fered in the Senate a joint resolution, in which both 
houses of Congress recommended the President to ap- 
point a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer, when 
the nation should entreat the Most High to avert 
from our country the Asiatic scourge, or, if he allowed 
it to come, to mitigate its severity and shorten its du- 
ration. 

In supporting this resolution Mr. Frelinghuysen 

said: 

" As it is to be inferred from the call just made for 
the yeas and nays that this resolution is to be opposed, 
I beg leave to refer the attention of the Senate to the 
example of Congress in 1812. A day of humiliation, 
fasting, and prayer was then recommended by a joint 
resolution of the Senate and House of Eepresenta- 
tives because of the war with Great Britain, in which 
the country was then involved. It was regarded as 
one of those seasons of public calamity in which it be- 
came a whole people to acknowledge their dependence 
and humble themselves before God. So far as I can 
learn from the journals of the day, the resolution was 
adopted without opposition. I^ow, sir, if a state of 
war, in which we had voluntarily engaged, was^ a fit 
occasion to call forth public expressions of humiliation 
for our sins and to invoke the merciful providence of 
God, how much more appropriately does it become us 
thus to feel and act on the approach of a pestilence 
that, in its ravages over the Old World, has swept 
many millions of our fellow-men into eternity, and 
which, in its character and progress through the earth, 



IX THE SENATE. 70 

seems so emphatically to be the instrument of Divine 
Providence, beyond the influence of second causes, and 
especially selected to accomplish his purposes, and to 
come and go at his bidding. 

"I hope, sir, that the present resolution will meet 
with no serious opposition. It surely becomes us to 
acknowledge our dependence, and to implore the in- 
terposition of God's mercy in this season of alarm. 
The Constitution can present no obstacle, for this is not 
an exercise of political power. It is far beyond the 
range of politics. It is an act of piety to God, becom- 
ing the whole nation, in which rulers and people are 
invited and advised to bow together before His throne 
of grace ; and there, feeling ourselves to be in like 
need, to unite in our common supplication to Ilim 
who has the issues of life and death, that he would be 
pleased to spare us in the day of his righteous judg- 
ment. I trust, sir, that this motion will receive the 
same decided countenance which was accorded to a 
similar measure in the late war and on many occasions 
during the war of the Eevolution." 

The resolution was carried in the Senate by a large 
majority, but was defeated in the House. The policy 
implied in it has, however, been signally reaffirmed in 
later years. In the summer of 18G1 the President 
was requested, by a unanimous vote in both houses 
of Congress, to appoint a day of national humiliation, 
in view of the perilous crisis of the country. He 
made such an appointment, and the cordiality and 
earnestness with which it was observed throughout 
the loyal states was without precedent in our pre- 
vious history. 

There were numerous other measures in the discus- 
sion of which Mr. Frelinghuysen took a prominent 



80 LIFE OF FKELINGHUYSEN. 

part, sucli as the Pension Bill, the President's Protest, 
the " Force Bill," the Eemoval of the Government De* 
posits from the Bank of the United States, the Compro- 
mise Tariff, etc. ; but it would needlessly swell the size 
of the volume to enter into the details of these ques- 
tions, or make extracts from the reported speeches of 
Mr. Frelinghuysen. 

The general impression made by him on his sena- 
torial colleagues is well expressed in the words of two 
of the most distinguished of their number, Daniel 
Webster and gENRY Clay. 

Mr. Webster, at a meeting held in Baltimore to rat- 
ify the Whig nominations in 1844, expressed himself 
thus : 

''With regard to the second great office in this 
country, it is only necessary to say that, from among 
several gentlemen, all of them my friends, and to 
scarcely one of them could a preference be given as 
respects their integrity and their talents — from among 
them a selection has been made than which a wiser 
and better could not have been made. There is not a 
man of purer character, of more sober temperament, 
of more accessible manners, and of more firm, unbend- 
ing, uncompromising Whig principles, than Theodore 
Frelinghuysen ; and not only is he all this, but such 
is the ease of his manners, such the spotless purity of 
his life, such the sterling attributes of his character, 
that he has the regard, the fervent attachment, and 
the enduring love of all who know him." 

At the same time Mr. Clay gave his views in a pri- 
vate letter to the late John P. Jackson, Esq., of New- 
ark, K. J,, which was never printed until after Mr. 
Frelinghuyscn's death. It is as follows : 



IN THE SENATE. 81 

"Ashland, June 4th, 1844. 

"Dear Sir, — I received your letter of the 28th ul- 
timo, and am very happy to learn that the Whig nom- 
inations at Baltimore have been received with so much 
enthusiasm in New Jersey. While I share in the 
common regret, among Whigs, that so many good and 
true men, who had high and just pretensions for the 
office of Yice-President, were necessarily put aside, 
nothing could be more agreeable and gratifying to me 
than the association of Mr. Frelinghuysen's name with 
my own. I have long and intimately known that 
gentleman ; and no man stands higher in my estima- 
tion as a pure, upright, and patriotic citizen. I served 
with him, with great pleasure, in the Senate of the 
United States, and shall never forget the memorable 
session of 1833-34. He always seemed self-poised, 
and bore himself uniformly with great ability and dig- 
nity. There was a vein of benignity and piety run- 
ning through all his conduct and speeches which it 
was refreshing and delightful to contemplate. 

" Such, my dear sir, is briefly my opinion of this 
most worthy and excellent man. 

'' I am, with great respect, your friend and obedient 
servant, H. Clay. 

"John P. Jackson, Esq." 

Both of these eminent men were of the same party 
as the man whom they eulogize. But political oppo- 
nents bore the same testimony. General Jackson, who 
could hardly conceive that there was any patriotism in 
those w4io opposed what he considered the true pol- 
icy of the country, never questioned the integrity of 
Mr. Frelinghuysen. He said that the senator from 
Kew Jersey always meant well, but was misguided by 
the political leaders with whom he was associated. 

When the Whig nominations were made in 1844, 
Messrs. Lumpkin, Dawson, and other leading raer^ from 

D2 



82 LIFE OF FEELIXGHUYSEN. 

• 

Georgia came to Kew York, and, visiting Mr. Freling- 
huj^sen, expressed a very warm interest in the success 
of the ticket, on his personal account as well as on 
other grounds. He inquired how he was to reconcile 
this with the opposition he had incurred in their state 
by his course on the bill for the removal of the In- 
dians. The answer was, that experience had satisfied 
them that he was right and they were wrong in that 
matter. 

To these testimonials the author has much pleasure 
in being able to add that of a great living statesman, 
scholar, and patriot, the Hon. Edward Everett, as 
contained in the following letter : 

''Boston, July 8,1862. 

" My dear Sir, — I much regret that my personal 
recollections of Mr. Frelinghuysen are not such as to 
enable me to contribute any thing of importance to 
your proposed Memoir. He entered the Senate not 
long after I became a member of the House of Repre- 
sentatives ; but, being without previous acquaintance, 
and both of us much occupied with our respective du- 
ties, I saw less of him than I could have wished. The 
distances are so great in Washington that there is lit- 
tle intercourse out of the committee -room, except 
among members who happen to live in the same part 
of the city. This remark does not, of course, apply to 
the active electioneering politicians, who, at Washing- 
ton as elsewhere, possess a busy ubiquity ; but neither 
Mr. Frelinghuysen nor myself were of that class. 

" What I know of him is principally through pub- 
lic channels of information. He brought to Washing- 
ton a brilliant reputation as a public speaker, with a 
character for unimpeachable personal integrity. His 
reputation and character were fully sustained in the 
Senate of the United States. He took but little part 



IN THE SENATE. 83 

ill the current daily business of the Senate; none in 
the fierce personalities sometimes exchanged between 
great political leaders ; but upon a few prominent ques- 
tions he spoke with great ability and effect. There 
was a classical finish in his language, and a certain 
sedate fervor, if I may so call it, in his language, 
which commanded the attention of his audience to a 
degree seldom surpassed. As he spoke but rarely, he 
was always listened to with deference, and soon took 
rank with the foremost members of the body, at a time 
when the Senate of the United States contained some 
of the brightest names in our political history. 

" Mr. Frelinghuysen took an active part in opposi- 
tion to that stupendous iniquity, the expulsion of the 
Indians from Georgia, and the division of their lands 
by lottery among the people of the state, in violation 
alike of the dictates of justice and humanit}^, and of 
the faith of seventeen treaties negotiated with them 
as an independent race. Having mj^self, to the best 
of my ability, opposed this scandalous measure in the 
other house of Congress, I took the greater interest in 
Mr. Frelinghuysen's efforts in the same cause. 

"I have alluded to Mr. Frelinghuj^sen's unimpeach- 
ed integrit3^ It was not, I fear, so great a distinction 
then, as now, to be above pecuniary corruption. The 
member of either house of Congress who, in those 
days, should have stipulated for a commission on a 
government contract, or had stooped to the mean bro- 
kerage of a cadetship at West Point or Annapolis, 
could never have held up his head among honest men 
again. Mr. Frelinghuysen would as soon have gone 
upon the highway as he would have been guilty of 
either of these infamies. 

" Renewing the expressions of my regret that I can 
offer you nothing in greater detail, I remain, my dear 
sir, very truly and respectfully yours, 

"Edward Everett." 



84 LIFE OF FRELIXGHUYSEN. 



CHAPTER y. 

CHANCELLOR OF THE UXIYEESITY OF THE CITY OF 

NEW YORK. 
1839—1850. 

Return to his Profession at Newark.— Call to the University of the 
City of New York. — Installation as Chancellor. — Success.— Pub- 
lic Usefulness. — Nomination for Vice-President. — Letter of Ac- 
ceptance.— The Canvass.— Letter to Louisville.— Result, and the 
disappointment it then caused. — Not now to be regretted. — Mr. 
Frelinghuysen retires from the University.— Letter of Dr. Tayler 
Lewis. 

When Mr. Frelinglinysen's senatorial term expired 
ill March, 1835, a gentleman of opposite political opin- 
ions was elected to succeed him, and he retired to pri- 
vate life, from which he did not again emerge, with 
one notable exception presently to be noticed. He 
was received with open arms by his fellow-citizens in 
ISTewark, and returned with undiminished ardor to the 
practice of his profession in the various courts of the 

state. 

While thus engaged, he was informed in March, 
1839, that he had been unanimously chosen by the 
Council of the University of the City of IN'ew York to 
become the chancellor of that institution. The Uni- 
versity, although it was then in its first decade of 
years, had achieved a high position, and gave promise 
of eminent usefulness, but was encumbered with heavy 
pecuniary embarrassments. Mr. Frelinghuysen felt 
that this appointment deserved very serious consider- 



CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVEESITY. 85 

ation, and such he gave to it. There were several 
circumstances which induced him to regard it with 
favor. His large and exhausting practice made a 
heavy drain upon his health, and sorely tried his 
nervous system ; he felt a growing repugnance to the 
sharp antagonisms incident to the legal j^rofession ; he 
was assured that his accession to the chancellorship 
would be attended with such an increase of subscrip- 
tions to the funds of the University as would free it 
from the burden of debt ; and he anticipated from his 
residence in New York as an academic executive a 
wider field of direct and immediate usefulness than he 
occupied at the New Jersey bar. After due consulta- 
tion and reflection, he accepted the appointment ten- 
dered by the Council of the University. His acces- 
sion to the post was hailed with general joy by the 
Christian public, and especially by that large class of 
influential persons interested in the prosperity of this 
important seat of learning. 

He soon removed his residence to New York, and 
on the 5th day of June was formally installed with 
appropriate ceremonies, General James Talmage, the 
President of the Council, delivering an address on be- 
half of that body, and the chancellor-elect following 
with an inaugural speech, in which he indicated with 
great clearness and force his views upon the impor- 
tant subject of collegiate education. He at once en- 
tered upon his academic duties with great energy, and 
soon had the satisfaction of seeing the institution re- 
lieved of a large portion of the indebtedness by which 
it had, from the beginning, been embarrassed, while 
an increasing number of students came to avail them- 



80 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

selves of its privileges. He gave to the University 
not only the prestige of his name and character as an 
eminent Christian statesman, but also the best efforts 
of his mind and heart, both in his professorial chair 
and in the general superintendence which devolved 
upon him as the head of the faculty. It was no per- 
functory service which he rendered, but the conscien- 
tious devotion of all his powers to the interests of the 
institution and of the young men who thronged its 
marble halls. His influence upon the latter was of 
the happiest kind. His high character, his personal 
dignity, his indubitable integrity, his courtes}^, his un- 
affected kindness and sympathy, gave to his instruc- 
tions and counsels a force which was irresistible. The 
students revered and loved him. They could not 
doubt the sincerity of his desire for their welfare; 
they knew from his past career his competency to ad- 
vise and direct, and they saw in his daily life a liv- 
ing illustration and exemplification of his own most 
cherished principles and oft-repeated inculcations. 

But his usefulness w^hile residino* in New York was 
not confined to the walls of the University. The 
commercial metropolis of the nation was, as it still is, 
the chief seat and centre of the great religious and 
philanthropic associations, which reflect so much lus- 
tre upon our age. Of one or two of these Mr. Freling- 
huysen was the president ; of several he was a direct- 
or or manager; of all he was a warm friend and ad- 
vocate. And no small demands were made upon his 
time and thoughts in aiding the accomplishment of 
the designs for which they had been formed. Wheth- 
er it was to contribute to funds, or to counsel in dif- 



CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY. 87 

ficult matters, or to address a public meetiag, lie lield 
himself in readiness to do what in him lay for the 
cause of God and of truth. Nor is there one of the 
national societies alluded to which can not recall sig- 
nal services thus rendered by the Chancellor. 

While thus engaged, he and many of his friends 
v\^ere surprised by his nomination as a candidate for 
the office of Vice-President of the United States, on 
the same ticket with Henry Clay, by the Whig Na- 
tional Convention assembled at Baltimore in May, 
IS-i-i. There were some circumstances connected with 
this nomination which rendered it very complimenta- 
ry and gratifying to Mr. Frelinghuysen. The Con- 
vention was held, it may be said, only for the purpose 
of selecting a candidate for this oflfi.ce, for no other 
name than Mr. Clay's was even thought of for the 
presidency ; and when, as a matter of form, the reso- 
lution presenting him for the position was read in the 
Convention, it was scarcely found possible to proceed, 
the acclamations of the vast throng bursting forth 
with such enthusiasm and persistency at every men- 
tion of the great man's name that no formal vote 
could be taken. The entire proceedings in reference 
to Mr. Frelinghuy sen's nomination were taken, from 
first to last, without the least solicitation or sugges- 
tion, direct or indirect, on his part. He had, indeed, 
withdrawn, as he supposed, finally from political life, 
nor had he any desire to re-enter upon that troubled 
arena. The balloting was of short duration, and the 
final result attained with unusual cordiality. He de- 
cidedly led the canvass from the first ballot ; and al- 
though such eminent statesmen as John Davis, of 



88 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEN". 

Massacliusetts, Millard Fillmore, of ISTew York, and 
John Sergeant, of Philadelpliia, were proposed in com- 
petition, on the third ballot he received a majority of 
the whole number of votes, whereupon the friends of 
the other candidates withdrew their names, and gave 
a hearty adhesion to the choice thus indicated. The 
nomination, moreover, associated him with Heney 
Clay, whose views of public policy he had always 
approved, and with whom he had been on terms of 
intimate personal friendship for very many years. 

He therefore, after thoughtful and prayerful con- 
sideration, accepted the position in a letter of which 
the following is the text : 

" New York, May 6, 1844. 

"Hon. "William Ellsworth, Chairman, etc.: 
" Dear Sir, — I have duly received your favor in- 
forming me of my nomination to the office of Vice- 
President of the United States, by the Whig Conven- 
tion of delegates, at Baltimore, on the 1st instant. To 
be thus distinguished by such a body of exalted and 
patriotic Whigs is an honor that I most sensibly feel. 
In accepting it, I can only promise the best efforts in 
some humble measure to justify the high confidence 
reposed in me. And I trust, in the goodness of Di- 
vine Providence, so to guide my steps that I may not 
disappoint the expectations of my friends or do harm 
to the interests of our country. 

" Your obedient friend and servant, 

" Theo. Frelinghuysen"." 

The election was hotly contested, perhaps as much 
so as any which has ever been held, and very great 
excitement prevailed throughout the country. The 
Democratic party naturally wished to regain the pow- 
er of which they had been deprived in 1840, and the 



>^ 



CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY. 89 

Whigs were anxious to secure anew a victory, the 
rightful fruits of which, when won at the preceding 
election, they deemed themselves to have lost through 
the early death of President Harrison. The tariff, the 
currency, the use of the public lands, and, above all, 
the annexation of Texas, were questions which enter- 
ed into the contest and were very warmly discussed. 
Mr. Frelinghuysen, however, continued in the quiet 
discharge of his academic duties, and took a very 
small part in the canvass. On two occasions he made 
-public addresses: one when the meeting assembled in 
New York to ratify the nominations adjourned to his 
residence and called him out ; the other some months 
subsequently, when a meeting held in Somerville, 
while he was visiting his relatives in that village, 
made a similar call upon him, and, being composed 
mainly of his old friends and neighbors, could not be 
refused. The only letters which he wrote upon polit- 
ical matters were two, the first of which was addi'cssed 
to the AVhig State Convention at Trenton in May, and 
the second to a large mass meeting gathered at Mill- 
stone, near the spot where he was born. In the course 
of the summer two gentlemen of Louisville, Ky., pro- 
pounded some inquiries, the tenor of which may be 
gathered from his answer here subjoined : 

"NewYorkjJuly 5, 18U. 

"Gentlemen, — Your favor is duly received and its 
inquiries are cheerfully answered. Since my residence 
in this city as Chancellor of the University, I have felt 
it to be my duty to its interest to retire very much 
from party politics, excepting so far as the sacred right 
of suffrage was concerned. I have never spoken but 
in decided condemnation of the mob scenes of violence 



90 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

and blood in Philadelphia, and have had nothing to 
do with the matter of the division of the school funds 
between Catholics and Protestants in New York. In- 
deed, your inquiry is the first intimation I have had 
that such a subject has been agitated. Allow me to 
say, gentlemen, in the general, that I cherish the prin- 
ciples of our Constitution, which allow full freedom 
of conscience and forbid all religious tests and estab- 
lishments, as sacred and fundamental. 
" Yours very respectfully, 

^' Theo. 'Frelinghuysen. 

" Messrs. Henry Pirtle and Geo. D. Prentice." 

It has always been customary among the more un- 
scrupulous politicians of our country to subject the 
personal and private character of any candidate for 
high official position to a very thorougli scrutiny, in 
the hope of finding some point of successful attack. 
Mr. Frelinghuysen did not escape the common lot, 
but he could defy the most unsparing ordeal. There 
was nothing in all his career, from the earliest period, 
whicb needed to be defended, apologized for, or even 
explained. Nothing unbecoming a man, a lawyer, 
a legislator, a Christian, was ever attributed to him. 
The most heated partisan, the bitterest opposers of 
the ticket, with one voice acknowledged the stain- 
less probity of the Whig candidate for the vice-presi- 
dency, whatever objection they might feel to his po- 
litical principles. 

The election, as is well known, resulted in the suc- 
cess of Messrs. Polk and Dallas, the candidates of the 
Democratic party. Mr. Frelinghuysen was but little 
disappointed at the result. Thoroughly convinced of 
the correctness of his political views, he would have 



CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY. 91 

been glad to become an active agent in carrying 
them out, especially as a coadjutor of Henry Cla}^, in 
whose ability, integrity, and patriotism he cherished 
an unshaken confidence to the end of his days. At 
the same time, such was his soundness of judgment, 
and such his accurate perception of the surges of pop- 
ular opinion, that he never was very sanguine of suc- 
cess, and was therefore, in a measure, prepared for the 
ultimate issue. Even the night before the day which 
brought the determining news as to the course of New 
York, which state was then justly considered as turn- 
ino- the scale of the election, when his Whig friends, 
having received some favorable tidings, gathered be- 
fore the University to congratulate him and them- 
S3lves on the auspicious issue, he reminded them that 
it was too soon to rejoice, and besought them to await 
the complete returns. 

When those returns came in the revulsion of feel- 
ing was tremendous. The mass of the Whig party 
were animated not only by a deep conviction of the 
importance of the principles which they held to the 
welfare of the country, but also by a strong personal 
attachment to their recognized leaders, especially to 
Mr. Clay, who was remarkable above all the great 
men whom this country ever produced for the degree 
in which he concentrated upon himself as a man the 
affections of those who shared in his views of public 
policy. Kemembering the brilliant victory they had 
achieved at the preceding presidential election, they 
cherished confident hopes of success in the present 
struggle, scarcely allowing themselves to think of fail- 
ure as a possible thing. Nor did they spare any pains 



92 LIFE OF FRELIXGHUYSEX. 

to secure the fulfillment of their hopes, but labored 
with enthusiasm unto the last. When the result was 
announced, it fell like a thunderbolt out of a cloudless 
sky. Stalwart men were moved even to tears, and 
multitudes mourned over the event as if it had been 
the loss of some dear relative. This was particularly 
true of many who desired Mr. Frelinghuy sen's elec- 
tion, not only because of their personal esteem for 
him, but also and especially because they desired to 
see a high official station adorned by a man who, to 
all other qualifications, added that of an eminently 
consistent Christian character. 

These regrets, however, have long since disappear- 
ed, not simply through the mellowing influence of 
time, but from a clearer apprehension of the connec- 
tion of events. Painful and mysterious as was the 
defeat of Clay and Frelinghuj'sen to their friends at 
the time and for years afterward, subsequent events 
have lifted the veil, and enabled calm, practical ob- 
servers to see the finger of Eternal Providence in that 
mortifying discomfiture. The question upon which 
the contest really turned was the annexation of Tex- 
as — whether this large province of Mexico, wrested 
by its inhabitants from the mother country, should be 
added to the United States at the risk of a war with 
Mexico, and of introducing under the protection of 
the federal Constitution an immense region to be fill- 
ed with a slaveholding population. The question 
was decided in the affirmative, the North being doubt- 
less led by the lust of territorial aggrandizement, 
which is alwaj^s dominant in young and growing na- 
tions, and the South by the hope of securing addition- 



CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY. 93 

al strength for tlie domestic institution wliicli they 
had (;ome to consider the basis of their civihzation. 
At first both seemed to be gratified. New Mexico 
and California, as well as Texas, contributed to swell 
the imperial dimensions of the American republic, 
and the South felt that the additional strength they 
had gained in the Senate was a new security for their 
cherished interest. But soon California knocked at 
the door of the Union for admission as a state, and 
the question at once arose whether she should be ad- 
mitted with or without a provision against involunta- 
ry servitude. A fierce conflict was finally settled by 
compromise. But the fire still slumbered under the 
ashes, and a few years later the same question arose in 
reference to Kansas and all the other Territories. The 
issues became more clearly joined and more virulent- 
ly contested, nntil at last ambitious leaders succeeded 
in inducing ten states of the Union to secede from the 
government and set up a new republic, the corner- 
stone of which was publicly declared by its vice-pres- 
ident to be the perpetuation of African slavery. The 
war which then ensued is still pending, and it is quite 
too early for the shrewdest observer to predict the 
final issue. But all unbiased men agree that one re- 
sult is certain in any event, and that is the overthrow 
"of African slavery. Its days on this continent are 
numbered. The mere friction of the war, if there 
were nothing else, must insure its disappearance. Its 
own friends have wrought its ruin. Had they been 
content to rely upon existing guarantees of safety, it 
might have continued indefinitely. But, dissatisfied 
with these, they insisted upon other measures, and 



94 LIFE OF FRELIXGHUYSEN. 

hence has followed what we now see. The first one 
of these measures was the annexation of Texas; and 
thej who once mourned that event as a great politi- 
cal disaster, may now admire the Providence of God, 
which, in his inscrutable wisdom, made that the initial 
step of a series by which the nation was to be gradu- 
ally but surely led forever out of the land of Egj-pt, 
out of the house of bondage. 

After the campaign, Mr. Frelinghuysen continued 
in the discharge of his academic duties, but not alto- 
gether with the same comfort as formerlj^ A severe 
attack of acute illness not only laid him wholly aside 
for several weeks, but left him in an enfeebled condi- 
tion, with disordered nerves. Under these circum- 
stances, the abundant hospitality which his situation, 
as well as his nature, prompted him to exercise, be- 
came somewhat of a trial. The finances of the Uni- 
versity too, being hampered hy the withdrawal, first 
of a part, then of the w^hole of the grant annually 
made by the state, imposed an embarrassing burden 
upon the head of the institution. Mr. Frelinghuysen 
began now to feel something of the weight of advanc- 
ing years, and the thought more than once occurred 
to his mind that it would be better for him to seek 
some other position, where the duties would not be so 
arduous, and where he could escape the excitements 
and engagements of the metropolis. In the kind 
providence of God, such a relief was opened to him, 
without any effort on his part, by an invitation from 
a literary institution in a neighboring city, which, 
while withdrawing him from the noise and bustle of 
New York, 3'et offered a continuation of what he al- 



CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY. 95 

ways felt to be the useful and congenial work of di- 
recting the studies and moulding the characters of 
young men in the course of a liberal education. He 
therefore resigned his position as Chancellor in the 
summer of the year 1850. 

From one of the most distinguished of his associates 
in the literary faculty of the University, Professor 
Tayler Lewis, LL.D., the author has had the pleasure 
of receiving the following letter, containing some ac- 
count of his career in this trying and responsible po- 
sition : 

"Union College, Schenectady, September 24, 18G2. 

"My dear Sir, — I can best give you my thoughts 
of Mr. Frelinghuj'Sen by relating three phases of my 
experience in respect to him. It is now more than 
thirty years since he first excited my admiration by 
his course in the Senate of the United States, especial- 
ly his speeches on the important questions that then 
arose respecting the Cherokee Indians, and the obedi- 
ence due to the decisions of the United States courts. 
It is now known that the party since so clamorous 
about the soundness of judicial decisions was then in 
a state of direct hostility to the decrees of Marshall 
and Story — not merely, while obeying them, seeking 
their reversal by constitutional means, which is the 
political right, and may be the duty of the most con- 
servative citizen, but bidding them direct defiance, en- 
courao-inor the President in his refusal to execute their 
issued process — in other words, nullifying them both 
in the letter and the spirit. In his speeches on these 
occasions, Mr. Frelinghuysen showed a knowledge of 
constitutional law equal to that of Webster ; but that 
was the least part of their merit. The Democratic 
party had enlisted on its side the irreligious clement 
in our land, and it was in rebuking this that the sen- 



96 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

ator from New Jersey rose above all others in that 
deeply interesting debate. Here was something new 
in that Senate. Christianity had been often mention- 
ed with approbation, but here was an exhibition of its 
very spirit and powers. There was something in the 
tone of those speeches, able as they were in other re- 
spects, which showed that religion was there in their 
midst — hearty, fervent, evangelical religion — religion 
as a higher law, first and before all things, instead of 
that mere political patronizing of Christianity which 
is so common among our public men. It is very easy 
to put forth the usual commonplaces about ' our holy 
religion,' and the value of Christian institutions, and 
the ' importance of morality and virtue as the founda- 
tion of all good government.' Men may say this, men 
have said it, and are fond of saying it, who are not re- 
ligious, who are not even moral. It is alwaj^s safe 
to talk in this way ; it is sometimes a very popular 
course ; it gains favor on the one side, while, by throw- 
ing in a word now and then about bigotry, and the 
' preservation of our religious liberties' now so much 
imperiled, it is careful to lose no ground on the other. 
This patronizing style assumes too, at times, a pro- 
found and philosophical look; it affects to go below 
the surface of things ; there seems presented a states- 
manlike, senatorial view of religion, with which we are 
wonderfully pleased as coming from such a source; 
and yet, after all, there is no heart in it, and even the 
knowledge it displays, though magnified from its po- 
sition, is often less than many a teacher imparts, and 
many a child acquires, in the Sabbath-school room. 

"No one,however, would thus judge of Mr. Freling- 
huj'sen. The living know the living. ' The spiritual 
man is judged of no one (who is not spiritual), while 
he himself judgeth all things.' But, aside from this, 
even the worldly and the irreligious have a faculty for 
detecting the genuine here. They feel how much it 
differs from that which is either wholly false, or but 



CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY. 97 

a passing sentimental emotion. Mr. Frelinghuy sen's 
soul was in these speeches. He was pleading for 
Christ his Savior. The religious aspects of the ques- 
tions were to him the main aspects; the social and 
political had their value in subordination. Justice, 
humanity, national faith — ever to be esteemed the 
stronger when pledged to the weak — the forms of 
treaties, the substantial truth of covenants — all these 
were treated, not merely in their humanitarian econo- 
mies, but as strictly religious — as having their sanc- 
tions from their never-to-be-sundered connection with 
the invisible and the eternal. 

"It was, indeed, a noble effort, characterized, too, by 
the highest eloquence of thought and language. The 
next thing I read of Mr. Frelinghuysen's was an ad- 
dress before one of the national religious societies in 
New York. It was a very different theatre, but the 
same man unchanged in thought and utterance. Here, 
too, the mere politician has, now and then, put forth 
his patronizing platitudes ; but here was Mr. Freling- 
huysen especially at home — more at home than in 
the Senate of the United States. Never did the union 
of those two characters, the statesman and the Chris- 
tian, seem so perfect. The man who had enchained 
the attention of the highest political audience now 
pleads the cause of missions and of Bible distribution 
with the soul of a martyr. It was no mere talk about 
the political economies of religion, the ' patriotism of 
Christianity,' its statistical and commercial benefits; 
it was no gracious presentation of thanks on the part 
of the State for the Church's good conduct, and its 
excellent police aid in the preservation of order and 
property ; it was no mere harangue on the physical 
or secular good of the Sabbath, and the duty of all re- 
spectable people to respect it on that account ; it was 
no empty laudation of missions and missionaries as 
the pioneers of civilization — its subject was none of 
these, except as lying far below in the scale of subor- 



98 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

dination, but ' life, life, eternal life' for perishing men 
and a perishing world. Instead of such cold secular- 
ities, his whole soul was on fire with the intensest spir- 
itualities of the Christian argument. The union of 
the two characters was delightful. It raised my ad- 
miration of the man to the highest pitch. I read with 
eagerness every thing that fell from his mouth on ev- 
ery occasion, secular or religious. And this may be 
called my first phase of experience. 

"In the year 1839 Mr. Frelinghuysen was appoint- 
ed Chancellor of the ISTew York University. I had 
been connected with the institution a few months be- 
fore. It need not be said how strong was the interest 
felt at the thought of being associated with such a 
man. ISTor was the first meeting a disappointment. 
The personal appearance was noble, commanding, 
equal to any thing that had been imagined respecting 
it. The inaugural address was worthy of the speak- 
er's high reputation. But when we entered upon the 
daily routine of college life and discipline, I must con- 
fess some change of feeling. This man, who, I thought, 
would fill me with awe and reverence, was found to 
have his humanities, and close contact sometimes 
brought them out unpleasantly. We had expected 
one who would take the lead commandingly, and un- 
der whose influence the institution would immediate- 
ly take the highest rank. Such an expectation was, 
of course, unreasonable. Colleges are of slow growth. 
We ought to know that this would be the case in our 
own country, when we remember that the universi- 
ties of the Old World are the production of centuries. 
True education can not be accelerated by outward 
forcing, or by calling to its patronage the highest in- 
fluence of great names. There was no disappointment 
in regard to his public cfibrts ; but it is to his private 
intercourse with us that I have now chiefly reference. 
This was, indeed, of the most pleasant kind, viewed 
merely in its social aspects. Never shall I forget the 



CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVEESITY. 99 

beautiful harmony of our faculty meetings as they 
were weekly held for nearly eleven years. We were 
of various denominations in religion. There was Dr. 
C. F. Henry, a profound thinker, an admirable writer, 
a noble man in every way, but a churchman of tower- 
ing altitude, even as his eloquent appeals now place 
him in the front rank for loyalty and patriotism. 
There was Professor Johnson, a man of the most pre- 
cise New Englandism, but whose Latin and German 
scholarship are unsurpassed in our country. There 
was Professor Draper, of European celebrity ; Nord- 
heimer, the distinguished Orientalist, and ' an Israelite 
truly in whom there was no guile.' There was Pres- 
byterian, Episcopalian, Dutch Reformed, Unitarian, 
Free-thinking (I use the term in no offensive sense), 
Old School, and New School; but in our weekly 
meetings there was the most perfect brotherhood of 
thought and action. Mr. Frelinghuj^sen presided so 
kindly, so genially, that there could be nothing sec- 
tional or sectarian in his presence. We all had our 
isms in theology, in philosophy, and even in peda- 
gogy ; but in our stated college associations there was 
the most perfect catholicity. Though formal to some 
extent in mode, they were wholly informal and so- 
cial in their spirit. Mr. Frelinghuysen was fond of 
treating things in a familiar, conversational manner, 
though no one could be more impressively dignified 
when the occasion demanded it. He had a touch of 
humor, quite a fund of anecdote, and, in a word, that 
easy sociability, such a well-known trait of gentlemen 
of the bar, and which Mr. Frelinghuysen brought with 
him from his long practice in the courts of New Jer- 
sey. All this was very pleasant, but still not in exact 
accordance with my high expectations. It was not 
the commanding character imagination had pictured. 
I would not retract the word already used ; it was, in- 
deed, a fault in this great man and this pure Chris- 
tian that he had a way of so constantly deferring to 



100 LIFE. OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

Others. It was tTie carrying to excess the apostle's 
precept: 'Let each man esteem others better than 
himself.' There were times when he would rise, and 
we saw before us the man who had commanded the 
United States Senate ; but he was not now with poli- 
ticians and corrupt party schemers, and amid scenes 
that would arouse the eloquence of his indignant re- 
buke. Surrounded by a small company of literary 
men and teachers, he sat in our midst as primus inter 
pares^ or, rather, as one who sought to learn from others 
rather than command, and who would substitute their 
professional knowledge for his own wide and cath- 
oHc experience. In other things, too, there was that 
about him which disturbed the too enthusiastic pre- 
judgment. How strong must this man be in Chris- 
tian^faith, I used to think ! What a privilege to lean 
upon his steady arm, to have the benefit of his Chris- 
tian counsels and Christian experience ! Here was, at 
first, what must be acknowledged as a disappointment. 
He was fond of religious conversation, and frequently 
drew one or the other of us into it in the most famil- 
iar way. Often was it my privilege thus to converse 
with him, sometimes in his own scholastic apartment, 
sometimes sharing his long daily walk, and, on a few 
occasions, in his chamber of sickness. He imparted 
strength, but not in the way I had expected. He was 
an admirable illustration of the apostle's paradox : 
' When he was weak, then was he strong;' and 'out of 
his weakness' were made strong those who enjoyed 
the privilege of this blessed Christian intercommunion. 
Mr. Frelinghuysen had difficulties in his religious life, 
in his personal experience, and he would freely tell 
them. His whole soul was in the pilgrimage to the 
New Jerusalem. Still, he was but a ^seeker of salva- 
tion.'' This was ever the form of his thought and the 
spirit of his language. He hardly dared to take to 
himself any other title. Of course, there was no al- 
lusion to the services he had rendered the cause of 



CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY. 101 

Christ. He did not think of them. His mind was 
ever upon his demerits, his deficiencies. It was no 
mock humility. The prayer of the publican was ever 
in his heart and often upon his lips. He was contin- 
ually asking others about their experience, their diffi- 
culties, the comforts and grounds of their faith. This 
was not for the obtaining comparative confidence, but 
because his true Christian soul loved thus to commune 
with others whom he esteemed as Christians, and to 
regard himself and them as a company of earth-weary, 
heaven-seeking pilgrims, marching hand in hand, and 
mutually holding each other up through 'sloughs of 
despondency' and over 'hills of difficulty,' and in evil- 
haunted vales of temptation, until at last the heaven- 
ly land is reached by all, the weakest as well as the 
strongest in the band. 

"I have endeavored to give you my exact impres- 
sion of the man, — an impression I would not now ex- 
change for any former ideal of the statesman. The 
habit I have mentioned of his continual deference to 
others was a hinderance to his literary success ; it pre- 
vented his having that commanding influence he might 
have exercised, and should have exercised on the fac- 
ulty and the college, and therefore it was that the first 
contact with these failures of character, if I may so 
call them, produced disappointment. He fell in rever- 
ence, while he rose in love; and this is what I may 
call my second phase of experience respecting him. 

" Still, the man of power was there ; the man of el- 
oquence ; the believing soul, large and loving. As a 
Christian, he must, of course, be humBle, but I had not 
looked for such a palpable exhibition of it. This feel- 
ing of disappointment was not of long continuance. 
It seems now, however, that it was necessary to a just 
appreciation of just such a character. I should never 
have known how true a Christian Mr. Frelinghuysen 
was had there been nothing but the first knowledge 
of him as a senator and a Christian orator. It was 



102 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

necessary to see how very human he was in some re- 
spects, if we would see the beautjr of that divine life 
which shone through this humanity so conscious of 
its weakness, so ever seeking help even from others 
who needed for themselves his wiser and stronger 
guidance. This was the third phase of the writer's 
experience respecting him. Mr. Frelinghuysen was a 
great man, a statesman, an orator seldom surpassed at 
the bar or in the Senate. He was a Christian man, 
hearty and true. He was a very humble Christian 
man, and in this lies the very essence of his greatness 
and his strength. 

" Yours truly, Tayler Lewis. 

"Rev. T. W. Chambers, D.D." 



PKESIDENT OF KUTGEES COLLEGE. 103 



CHAPTEE VI. 

PRESIDENT OF RUTGERS COLLEGE. 

1850—1862. 

Early History of the Institution. — Inauguration of Mr. Frclinghuy- 
sen. — Growth of the College. — The President's Diligence. — Letter 
from Dr. Crosby. — Death of the first Mrs. Frelinghuysen. — Bacca- 
laureate Addresses. — Useful to the End. — Death. — Funeral. 

The old literary institution at Kew Brunswick was 
establislied by a charter from George III. in 1770, and 
was styled Queen's College. This charter was ob- 
tained and the college founded by the prayers and 
efforts of the earlier Frelinghuysens and Harden- 
berghs. It passed through many severe trials, and 
sometimes suffered a total suspension of service ; but 
its friends persevered, and had the pleasure of seeing 
a complete and permanent revival of the institution 
in the year 1825, under the name of Rutgers College, 
when it entered upon a career of growing prosperity 
and usefulness. The first president of the revived in- 
stitution was the learned and eloquent Dr. Milledoler, 
who at the same time held the chair of theology in 
the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Protestant 
Dutch Church. Dr. Milledoler withdrew from his po- 
sition in the year 1841, and was succeeded by the 
Hon. A. B. Hasbrouck, LL.D., of Kingston, N. Y., 
who had achieved distinction at the bar and in Con- 
gress, and who, for a period of ten years, presided over 
the college with great dignity, efficiency, and success. 



104 LIFE OF FKELINGHUYSEN. 

At the end of that time domestic circumstances in- 
duced Dr. Hasbrouck to resign his office and devote 
himself to his private affairs. 

In looking for a gentleman to fill the responsible 
position thus vacated, it was natural for the trustees 
to turn their eyes toward the honored son of New 
Jersey, whose heart still beat so warmly toward his 
native state, whose earliest associations connected him 
with the institution at New Brunswick, and whose 
personal gifts and attainments had now been matured 
by many years' experience in academic instruction 
and government. They unanimously invited him to 
become their president. After seeking, according to 
his invariable custom, the Divine direction, he cheer- 
fully accepted the appointment, and removed his res- 
idence to New Brunswick — the last remove he was 
destined to make on earth. At the annual Commence- 
ment, July 24th, 1850, he was formally inducted into 
office. His Excellency Daniel Haines, the governor 
of the state, acting in behalf of the Board of Trustees, 
introduced the president elect to the audience in a 
short and graceful speech. The venerable Dr. Can- 
non, the oldest member of the board, then welcomed 
the new officer to his position with fitly chosen words, 
which, spoken with the fire of youth, thrilled through 
the assembly, and gave just expression to the enthusi- 
astic cordiality with which the accession of Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen was regarded by the authorities and friends 
of the college. The exercises were closed by an in- 
augural address of the president, abounding with per- 
tinent and instructive suggestions respecting the true 
aims of a collegiate education. The concluding para- 



PRESIDENT OF RUTGERS COLLEGE. 105 

graphs, containing a toucliing reference to liis own 
feelings in view of his return to the scenes of his 
childhood, are here extracted : 

"If I may be allowed a single personal allusion, it 
is matter of grateful interest that the revolutions of 
time have conducted my footsteps, in the evening of 
life's pilgrimage, to the cherished spot where its morn- 
ing began ; and that, notwithstanding the desolations 
of the past — and they are many and sad — a benignant 
Providence permits to-day the recognition of many 
living names whose early recollections harmonize with 
my own. 

"And now may He whose blessing maketh rich, 
grant his constant favor that our college may con- 
tinue to send forth a hallowed influence ; that its sons 
may illustrate its fame by the light of a pure and up- 
right example; and that, whatever else may befall 
them in a world of affliction and change, no one of 
them may be permitted, by the perversion of his pow- 
ers, to impair the foundations of truth, or give counte- 
nance to the enemies of virtue." 

Here Mr. Frelinghuysen continued to the end of 
his life, surrounded by the friends of his youth, and 
happy in the service of an institution endeared to him 
by precious ancestral recollections. The favorable 
auspices under which he began his administration of 
its affairs were fully confirmed by the result. The 
old friends of the college engaged with fresh zeal in 
its behalf, and many new ones were enlisted. The 
number of the students began at once to increase. 
The endowment funds were considerably augmented. 
The course of study became, in time, greatly enlarged. 
Valuable additions were made to the corps of profess- 
ors. Pecuniary embarrassments were removed; phil- 

E2 



106 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

osophical and other apparatus was abundantly pro- 
vided ; and the institution, always respectable for its 
age, and history, and character, attained a still higher 
reputation at home and abroad. 

Mr. Frelinghuysen's connection with it was far from 
being nominal. Notwithstanding his approach to the 
allotted term of human life, he entered into his work 
with conscientious fidelity and energy, carefully elab- 
orating the special duties of his own department, and 
conducting the discipline of the institution with a 
gentleness, firmness, and impartiality which secured 
the happiest results. To the customary care of the 
mental progress of the students he added a parental 
concern for their moral and Christian advancement, 
for which many will have reason to thank him as 
long as they live. On this point the author is happy 
to present the following testimony of one who had 
rare opportunities of forming an intelligent opinion, 
the Kev. Dr. Crosby : 

"New Brunswick, August 14, 1862. 

*'Eev. Talbot "W. Chambers, D.D.: 
*'Dear Sir, — It gives me great pleasure to comply 
with your request, and record my impressions of the 
late Mr. Frelinghuysen in his official capacity as the 
presiding officer of a college, not only from my desire 
to contribute what I can to the general good in the 
exhibition of so bright a character, but also from a 
grateful sense of the benefits which I personally re- 
ceived from the official influence of the illustrious de- 
ceased. I had the good fortune to witness Mr. Fre- 
Hnghuysen's administration of a college presidency 
from two distinct points of view, having been four 
years a student at the University of New York when 
he occupied its chancellorship, and having, fifteen 



PKESIDENT OF RUTGERS COLLEGE. 107 

years thereafter, become his colleague in the faculty 
of Kutgers College, where I enjoyed his intimacy three 
years until his death. Students uniformly loved and 
respected him. They knew he was their fast friend, 
and they also knew that his conduct was actuated by 
the purest and most exalted motives. Such a knowl- 
edge, of course, was accompanied by the fullest confi- 
dence, so that, however disappointed a student was 
made by the chancellor's denial of his request, the 
disappointment was never followed by a revengeful 
or rebellious spirit. I well recollect how, at my first 
admission to the Freshman class, I applied to Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen for a dispensation from the exercise of 
public speaking. I promised double exertion in every 
other department if I could only be excused in this 
one. His reply was gentle in tone and manner, and 
yet a firm denial. He used the affectionate phrase 
'my son,' and assured me that no better opportunity 
would ever be offered me for the removal of my difii- 
dence, and for the attainment of ease and readiness in 
oratory. I ventured once after this to renew my re- 
quest, and received the same answer, with a similar 
manifestation of regard for my welfare. Instead of re- 
pelling me, these interviews won my heart, and I felt 
ready from that time to meet his ' my son' with a re- 
sponsive 'my father.' Four years after, when I de- 
livered an oration in the University that possessed 
some merit, the chancellor came down from the rostra 
and greeted me warmly, saying, with clear memory 
of the interviews at my entrance upon college life, 
'Are you not satisfied now that I did right in refusing 
you exemption from oratorical duties when you were 
a Freshman?' 

" The respect which the students entertained for 
Mr. Frelinghuysen was always a guarantee of orderly 
behavior and attention in his class-room, so that sever- 
ity was never needed, and he was relieved from the 
use of methods from which his mild nature would 



108 LIFE OF FRELIXGHUYSEN. 

have slirunk, "while their love for the chancellor often 
assumed the form of enthusiasm which gave vigor 
even to sluggish mmcls. 

" In Eutofers Collesre I noticed these same marks of 
Mr. Frelinghuysen's relations to the students, although 
they were somewhat modified by his advanced age. 
His intercourse with his colleagues was marked by 
modesty, simplicity, and gentleness, and whenever he 
differed with them in the details of discipline, it was 
easy to see that the kindly sympathies of his heart lay 
at the bottom of the difference. 

Conspicuously, through all the attributes of his char- 
acter, shone Mr. Frelinghuj'Sen's Christian faith and 
devotion. No one could spend a day in his company 
without being impressed with his zeal in the Master's 
service. His colleagues saw that the love of Christ 
was the constraining principle of his life, and it was 
this consistent Christian example which rendered his 
influence over the young so precious, and to which an 
army of men of young and middle 3^ears now grate- 
fully yield their testimony, as the}^ feel that his char- 
acter and counsels saved them from ruin, and guided 
their feet in the path of uprightness and Christian 
truth. 

He took especial delight in addressing the four 
classes on Saturday mornings, founding his earnest 
exhortations to repentance and a godly life on some 
passage of Scripture read at the opening service of the 
chapel, and on the Sabbath the students were again i 
assembled before him in the chapel to receive a sys- ' 
tematic Biblical instruction. 

To his view the student was, first of all, a sinner re- 
quiring the atoning blood of Jesus, and all learning 
and discipline were subordinate, and to be made sub- 
sidiary, to the great end of spiritual conversion and 
renewal. Education was a training of the whole man^ 
and thus the fear of the Lord was recognized as the 
besfinnins: of wisdom. Oh that all our instructors felt 

o o 



A. 



PRESIDENT OF RUTGERS COLLEGE. 109 

this trutli as did the distinguished saint whose death 
has put the whole Church in mourning. His legacy 
to us all is the example of a consecrated life. As we 
honor his memory, may we follow that example. 
" Yours faithfully, Howard Crosby." 

"While thus assiduously and successfully engaged 
in the appropriate duties of his office, his home was 
desolated and his heart bereaved in April, 1854, by 
the death of Mrs. Frelinghuysen. " From an early 
period of her life she was an exemplary member of 
the Church of Christ, and enjoyed beyond most the 
comforts resulting from a firm trust in God and hope 
in his mercy through his beloved Son. She retained 
her consciousness until near the close of life, and an- 
ticipated death with the composure and peace which 
nothing but faith in the glorious Gospel of the grace 
of God can inspire." Three years afterward Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen repaired the breach in his domestic rela- 
tions by a union with Miss Harriet Pompelly, of Owe- 
go, N. Y., a lady of great intellectual and moral worth, 
who, after ministering largely to his comfort and use- 
fulness during the closing years of his life, still sur- 
vives to bear his name and cherish the memory of his 
many virtues. 

In New Brunswick, as in New York, Mr. Freling- 
huysen always delivered, at the annual Commence- 
ment, a baccalaureate address to the members of the 
graduating class. These addresses bore the stamp of 
their author. Nothing was said for display or sensa- 
tional effect, but all for personal and practical use. 
Such themes were chosen as pertained most directly 
to the interesting situation of the young men, and 



M 



110 LIFE OF FKELINGHUYSEN. 

weighty thoughts and wise counsels were urged with 
the affectionate earnestness becoming his years and 
position. These addresses were never long, much less 
wearisome. Their author studied a compact brevity, 
and a simplicity of statement and illustration which 
enchained and rewarded attention. His suggestions 
covered a wide range, extendmg to all the relations 
of his hearers, personal and social, for time and eter- 
nity. In times of political excitement he did not fail 
to inculcate a pure and lofty patriotism. Shunning 
all mere partisanship, he gave the whole weight of his 
experience and character to uphold the Constitution 
and the Union, recurring to the character of their 
founders, and pleading with a pathetic earnestness 
that the children should cherish with ceaseless vigi- 
lance this honored legacy of their fathers. He delight- 
ed to invoke afresh, as he said in 1855, " the fraternal 
feelings that formed the American Constitution, which 
has so long and so illustriously shown how much of 
human wisdom and forecast, and how much more of 
divine benignity, crowned this first great experiment 
of a free and self-governed people. May it be per- 
petual ! May no rash hand mar its glory or dare dis- 
turb its foundations !" 

The last years of Mr. Frelinghuy sen's life, spent in 
New Brunswick, were attended with better health 
than he had enjoyed in New York. And he was, in 
consequence, even more active than before in render- 
ing occasional services to such benevolent enterprises 
as made a claim upon him for counsel or for public 
addresses. Usefulness was a passion with him, and 
there was no sphere, however humble, which he was 



PRESIDENT OF RUTGERS COLLEGE. Ill 

not ready to fill when called upon. It was a matter 
of tliankfal joy to him and to his friends that, after so 
long a period spent in exhausting cares and duties, he 
was still able faithfully to perform the regular duties 
of his office, and, at the same time, in other ways act- 
ively contribute to the general good of his fellow- 
men. Yet, in the case of one who had lived three 
quarters of a century, this could not be expected to 
continue very long. In this view the occurrence of 
his death was marked by a providential fitness. He 
had filled the probable measure of his activity. He 
had served his generation faithfully by the will of 
God. He had left his enduring mark upon all the 
stations in which he had been placed. He had illus- 
trated all the various phases of Christian character in 
the scenes of active life. It was well that he should 
pass with small delay from his work to his reward; 
that there should be no lengthened period of enforced 
seclusion and gradual decay between his usual effi- 
ciency and his final rest ; but that, when called away 
in the fullness of his days, honors, and labors, it might 
be said of him as of the old Eoman, "Felix, non vitas 
tantum claritate, sed etiam opportunitate mortis." 

He died on the 12th of April, 1861, after an illness 
slightly protracted, the details of which will be fur- 
nished in a subsequent chapter. His death, although 
not unexpected, produced a deep sensation through- 
out the community. Eesolutions complimentary to 
his memory were passed by the Faculty of the Col- 
lege, the Council of the University of the city of New 
York, the Bar of Essex County, and various other 
bodies with which he had been connected ; and his 



112 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

funeral, on the fourth day following his decease, was 
attended by a large concourse of persons from differ- 
ent parts of his own state, and also from New York 
and Pennsylvania. Brief and appropriate services 
were held at his recent residence, the Rev. Professor 
Woodbridge and the Rev. Dr. H. N. Wilson officiating. 
Afterward a long procession proceeded to the First 
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, following the 
bier, the pall of which was borne by the governor, 
chancellor, and chief justice of the state, the president 
of the College of New Jersey, and twelve other dis- 
tinguished gentlemen. The flags of the city were at 
half-mast, the bells of the churches were tolled, and 
the places of business along the route to the church 
were closed ; every possible sign of respect and grief 
was shown by his fellow-citizens. The services in 
the church were opened by the Rev. Dr. J. Few Smith, 
of Newark, with the announcement of Wesley's beau- 
tiful hymn, "Jesus, lover of my soul," etc., and the 
reading of the fifteenth chapter of the First Epistle to 
the Corinthians. The Rev. Dr. Hodge, of Princeton, 
the friend of Mr. Frelinghuysen from boyhood, fol- 
lowed in an earnest, humble, simple, and impressive 
prayer. A carefully prepared and eloquent minute, 
adopted by the trustees of the college in reference to 
the life and character of the deceased, was read by 
their secretary, the Rev. Dr. T. C. Strong, of New York. 
The address of the occasion was pronounced by the 
venerable Dr. De Witt, of the Collegiate Church, New 
York, who, in fitly-chosen words, and with a voice 
and manner fraught with emotion, portrayed some- 
thing of the life and character of his departed friend, 



PRESIDENT OF RUTGERS COLLEGE. 113 

and gave appropriate utterance to the feelings which 
animated the whole of the vast assembly. The Rev. 
Professor Campbell closed the services in the church, 
after which the remains were removed to the adjoin- 
ing grounds, where already so many of the former 
presidents and professors of the institutions at New 
Brunswick lie sleeping in Jesus. Here the Rev. Dr. 
Neville, of Newark, N. J., read a portion of the funer- 
al service of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and 
then, beneath the lingering rays of the setting sun, all 
that was mortal of Theodore Frelinghuysen was com- 
mitted to the tomb. 



114 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEN. 



CHAPTER YII. 

PEESONAL TKAITS AND HABITS. 

His Person. — Social and Domestic Habits. — Hospitality. — Popular- 
ity. — Mental Traits : Insight, Judgment, Imagination. — Reading. 
— Style. — Speeches. — Eloquence. — Instances. — Keminiscence of 
Dr. Magie. 

Mr. Frelinghuysen was a man a little under six 
feet in height, with a sinewy and well-proportioned 
frame. In time the weight of years and the inroads 
of disease somewhat bent his erect form and lessened 
his flesh. A broad expansive forehead towered over 
a pair of eyes which, soft and dreamy in repose, when 
he was aroused gleamed and flashed with strange 
power. The lines of his mouth and chin gave a tone 
of decision and firmness to his habitual expression, 
which, however, when he was conversing with friends, 
gave way to a very fascinating smile. His whole ap- 
pearance, when in the flush of early manhood, was of 
a commanding jet attractive character. 

In natural disposition Mr. Frelinghuysen was amia- 
ble and kind, with a marked tendency to mirth. The 
old men in Somerset, K. J., who knew him when they 
all were boys together, concur in describing him as a 
lively, pleasant companion, full of sport, ready to give 
and take a sharp jest, and a general favorite in the 
community. The same traits marked him in maturer 
years. Even when most burdened with cares and re- 
S2Donsibilities, he knew how desijoere in loco. He en- 



PEESONAL TRAITS AKD HABITS. 115 

joyed society greatly. The company of congenial 
friends was his best earthly relief from continued and 
exhausting labors. He entered without reserve into 
the spirit of the occasion. Never forgetting, even 
for a moment, what was becoming to his own char- 
acter and station, he yet could so adapt himself to 
those who were around him that stiffness and formal- 
ity vanished, the timid became emboldened, and the 
young found themselves quite at their ease. Al- 
though not a professed wit, he had a keen sense of 
the ludicrous, and not unfrequently enlivened conver- 
sation with sparkling turns of thought. Thus, on one 
occasion, many years ago, a lawyer who was notori- 
ous for pecuniary shifts drove a very handsome equi- 
page to the Somerset courts, and, as he was displaying 
his carriage and horses, challenged Mr. Frelinghuy- 
sen to tell what he gave for them. " Oh ! that is not 
hard to say," was the reply; "I have no doubt you 
gave your note for them." He had great skill and 
tact in narration and recital, seizing at once the sali- 
ent points of the story, and stating them with few and 
expressive words. His conversational resources were 
large and varied. Having mingled much with men 
of every class, and having, by his professional and 
political associations, acquired great familiarity with 
human life in all its aspects, he was fitted to inform 
and interest others on almost any topic. A store of 
reflection, incident, anecdote, was ready at hand when- 
ever needed. He knew how to listen as well as talk, 
and his sympathetic nature, habitual kindness, and un- 
flagging courtesy left his companions nothing to desire. 
His society was always, even in his advanced years, 



I 



116 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

pleasing to the young. Notwithstanding the pressure 
of cares and the increase of infirmities, he was to the 
end youthful in his feelings. This he used pleasantly 
to attribute to the fact that he had so many young 
nieces and nephews, whose society aroused his sympa- 
thies and precluded the rust of age. Nothing gave 
him more pleasure than to have them in his family, 
to see them around his board, and elicit their various 
traits of character and phases of feSing. He often 
spoke of the beneficence of Providence in giving " an 
^undergrowth of affection" to the moral world as to the 
"natural forest," and quoted with great feeling some 
characteristic lines of Wordsworth on the subject. 
He felt, with the author of the Excursion, that while 

"The primal duties shine aloft like stars, 
The charities that soothe, and heal, and bless, 
Are scattered at the feet of man like flowers ; 
The generous inclination, the just rule, 
Kind wishes, and good actions, and pure thoughts. 
No mystery is here ; no special boon 
For high and not for low, for proudly graced 
And not for meek of heart." 

Mr. Frelinghuysen's interest in the young extended 
even to little children. In his daily walks in New 
Brunswick, he could scarcely ever meet them in the 
street without pausing to look in their smiling faces 
and engage them in suitable conversation. Not un- 
frequently, when he saw them flattening their noses 
against the windows of a toy-shop in their eager de- 
sire to scan its treasures, the childless man would find 
out what they most coveted, and then gratify himself 
by gratifying them. 

He was a whole man with a rich and generous na- 



PERSONAL TRAITS AND HABITS. 117 

ture. He enjoyed life, and wished others to have the 
same pleasure. Without degenerating into a mere 
animal, he appreciated a bountiful table, and, with the 
apostle, counted that " every creature of God is good, 
and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanks- 
giving ; for it is sanctified by the word of God and 
prayer." His hospitality was uniform, and profuse, 
and cordial. Caring nothing for fashion, opposed on 
principle to waste and extravagance, and attentive to 
the minor duties of domestic economy, he yet carried 
the largeness of his own soul into all his social ar- 
rangements. Nothing mean or petty was ever suf- 
fered to disfigure his household. It was conducted 
on the scale of one who could use this world without 
abusing it, and who, while duly prizing the unspeak- 
able spiritual gifts of the Lord, could yet thankfully 
receive and heartily enjoy his temporal bounties. 

The personal popularity of Mr. Frelinghuysen with 
many men in political life who had little or no sym- 
pathy with his religious opinions can scarcely be ac- 
counted for without supposing something in the inher- 
ent nature of the man, a sort of magnetism, such as 
existed so remarkably in his great friend and compa- 
triot, Henry Clay, which grappled admirers as with 
hooks of steel, and held them by a willing but invin- 
cible bond. He had a chivalrous nature. He was 
the soul of honor. He could not do small things or 
mean things. There was in him a strange combina- 
tion of fearless courage and melting tenderness. He 
was frank and open-hearted, yet always retaining his 
personal dignity. He was devoid of reserve or cun- 
ning. He never sought an end through indirection. 



118 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

And lie was thorouglilj trustworthy. Truth and can- 
dor beamed in his countenance, and characterized ev- 
ery word and act. Eigid adherence to principle 'was 
unaccompanied by any narrowness of views, or sour- 
ness of disposition, or uncharitableness of opinions. 
His catholic sympathies took in men of all sections, 
and classes, and parties; and the nobleness of his 
nature commanded respect and won affection even 
among those who dissented most decidedly from his 
jDolitical or religious convictions. It was doubtless 
the rare blending of deep Christian humility and con- 
scientiousness with a cheerful, buoyant, manly, gener- 
ous, fearless deportment in all the varied phases of 
life, which attracted the good will of many who oth- 
erwise would have been repelled by the strictness of 
his course and character. 

The prominent feature of his intellectual character 
was insight. He had a quick, keen perception. His 
mind moved rapidl}^ Naturally alert and agile, it 
was disciplined to strike right at the heart of things. 
He had no relish for cloudland. He could not endure 
mist and fog. His masculine understanding craved 
the solid truth, and this he commonly grasped as if 
by a sort of intuition. He reached his end by a much 
shorter process than the repeated and painful tenta- 
tives by which most men arrive at their conclusions. 
Nor was this because he looked only at the surface. 
He saw clearly and he saw far. His comprehensive 
glance took in all the relations of a subject at the 
same time. The connections of truth, the bearings of 
facts, the springs of action, the developments of char- 
acter, were apprehended by him with peculiar facility 



PERSONAL TRAITS AND HABITS. 119 

and promptness. He was not often or easily blinded 
by mere appearances, but pierced at once to the reali- 
ty. His friends and students were often amazed at 
the rapidity of his mental operations. He would take 
a law-book down from the shelf, and, turning a few 
leaves, would gain, in what appeared an incredibly 
short time, an accurate comprehension of its contents. 
The same was true in human character. At his first 
interview with a man, he would, without betraying 
the fact either by look or motion, thoroughly measure 
his visitor, and form an opinion which he rarely, if 
ever, found occasion to revise or alter. 

This sharpness of perception was accompanied by 
a very sound and accurate judgment. He was cool, 
cautious, and dispassionate, not wedded to theories, 
not attracted by startling novelties, not misled by any 
love of paradox. He could discriminate nicely, could 
weigh differences, and feel the force of objections. In 
all matters, personal, social, professional, political, and 
ecclesiastical, it was his habit to consider both sides 
of a contested point, and then impartially adjust their 
respective claims. However intense his convictions 
on any subject, they never led him into extravagance 
or fanaticism. He never avoided one error only to 
fall into another of the opposite class. This exquisite 
balance of his mind appeared alike in arguments, in 
addresses, in counsel on different questions, and in the 
general conduct of his life. His " large, roundabout 
sense" gave to the advice often solicited from him a 
force like that of inspiration. He was singularly free 
from prejudice, precipitancy, and partiality, and seem- 
ed to know instinctively what to say and how to say it. 



120 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

His imagination was lively and fertile, but it was 
not a primary power. It was not remarkably origi- 
native, but in an uncommon degree receptive, having 
a capacity of realizing the conceptions of others, and 
through them bodying forth the unseen. When ex- 
alted by the understanding and heated by the affec- 
tions, it burst out with great force, but always as a 
servant, not master. Nor did it ever exhibit traces 
of any unusual or careful cultivation. In preparing 
for an audience, his attention was concentrated mainly 
on the matter and order of the thoughts ; all the rest 
was left to the natural workings of his mind under 
the spur of the occasion. Its main use to him was in 
jury-trials, when by its aid he was able to bring up 
the past and the distant so as to make them live in 
the present before the men whose verdict he sought 
to gain. His interest in the grave themes he was ac- 
customed to handle did not allow him to go out of 
the way for mere ornament. Whatever flights of fan- 
cy would contribute to the end he had in view were 
freely indulged, but nothing for purposes of display. 

Although he never undertook to versifj^, he seems 
to have had a great deal of poetic sensibility. '' This," 
as one of his near friends remarks, "caused him to 
feel an indescribable charm in all the scenes of rural 
life. To him there was a grace in the laborer's cheer- 
ful toil, the singing of birds, the hum of the insect 
world. A snow-storm gave him great pleasure; he 
stood gazing upon the whitening landscape with ever 
new delight." 

His reading throughout life was careful and select 
rather than extensive. Gibbon among historians, and 



PERSONAL TRAITS AND HABITS. 121 

Burke among philosophical and political writers, were 
his chief favorites. The leisure he enjoyed in the 
early years of his professional life was spent in famil- 
iarizing himself with the best English classics. Sir 
Eoger de Coverly was a character he always greatly 
admired, and Dr. Johnson's Life and Works were sub- 
jects of abiding interest to his mind. Like every 
other man of taste, he highly appreciated Milton and 
Shakspeare, but his warmest affection was for Cow- 
per, Montgomery, and Wordsworth. From " The Ex- 
cursion" the inmates of his household often heard him 
read aloud with very great sensibility and pathos. 
For light literature he never had any taste. He could 
gain sufficient relaxation from the burden of profes- 
sional toils by solid reading or in the social circle, 
without reducing his mental and moral stamina by a 
weak, washy flood of ephemeral fiction. This taste 
continued to the end. As his cares increased there 
was less opportunity for miscellaneous reading, but 
what time he could redeem for the purpose was care- 
fully improved. He kept in some degree abreast of 
the literature of the age, yet habitually preferred to re- 
fresh his mind with those productions upon which 
time had set its unerring seal. 

For devotional reading he was accustomed to re- 
sort to the Morning and Evening Exercises of Jay, the 
Sacra Privata of Bishop Wilson, and particularly to 
the practical works of Baxter, whose Saint's Best he 
esteemed next to the Bible. He found the habitual 
perusal, from day to day, of such works greatly con- 
ducive to his spirituality and comfort. But, accord- 
ing to the testimony of his last pastor, the Kev. Dr. 

F 



122 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

Wilson, of Kew Brunswick, his advancing years led 
him to a more exclusive attachment to the Word of 
God as the means of growing in personal hohness. 

Mr. Frelinghuysen's diction, in oral and written pro- 
ductions was terse, chaste, and perspicuous. His style 
indicated a familiarity with the older models of En- 
glish, and sometimes betrayed the influence which Dr. 
Johnson's sonorous periods exerted upon writers in 
both hemispheres at the beginning of this century. 
There was nothing elaborate in Mr. Frelinghuysen's 
mode of expression, no curiosafelicitas^ no attempts at 
word-painting, but rather a careless ease and grace, 
which seemed to seek only a transparent medium for 
the thought, and postponed all other considerations to 
the one object of conveying his own views and carry- 
ing conviction to the minds of his hearers. 

His speeches were all remarkable for compactness 
and brevity. His great effort in the Senate on the 
Indian Bill, which occupied parts of three days, and 
consumed about five hours altogether, was an excep- 
tion which was due to the importance of the subject 
and to the large mass of documentary evidence which 
the nature of his argument required him to introduce. 
But in general he rarely exceeded an hour. When 
at the bar he studied principles rather than cases, and 
shunned the risk of being smothered under the weight 
of accumulated authorities. The peculiarities of his 
mind enabled him to seize upon the strong points of 
a case, and these he pressed home with resistless pow- 
er. He scorned tricks, sharp practice, and unfair ad- 
vantages, and won a cause honorably or not at all. 
His main reliance was upon solid reasoning addressed 



PERSONAL TRAITS AND HABITS. 123 

neither to tlie prejudices nor the passions of his hear- 
ers, but to their judgment. Yet, like every other 
speaker who has a point to gain, he employed all the 
subsidiary means which Nature put into his hands to 
arrest attention, to awaken interest, to conciliate favor, 
to stir the fountains of laughter or of tears. It is re- 
lated that once, when urging the conviction of a noto- 
rious counterfeiter, he had occasion to represent the 
way in which the accused passed off the spurious 
notes upon a neighbor, the statement was so comical 
that the entire court and jury broke into a peal of 
laughter, in which the prisoner at the bar joined as 
heartily as any of the rest. Yet, on the other hand, 
many years later, precisely the opposite effect was 
produced in the same city. In 1837 the American 
Board held its annual meeting in Newark under cir- 
cumstances of deep interest. The commercial revul- 
sion of that memorable year had greatly impaired the 
receipts of the Board, and threatened to leave it em- 
barrassed with a very heavy and unmanageable debt. 
At one stage of the anxious discussions produced by 
this state of things, Mr. Frelinghuysen, who was sit- 
ting among the audience in the body of the house, 
suddenly arose to speak. He had been deeply moved 
by some of the representations made, and he stood up 
to pour out an overflowing heart. For half an hour 
he held the crowded house spellbound. His speech, 
wholly unpremeditated, ran on in a strain of the lofti- 
est eloquence. The speaker was lost in his theme. 
. His animated appeals for the Savior's honor and the 
salvation of a perishing world overwhelmed the entire 
audience with a flood of sacred emotion. Old and 



124 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

young were melted under the orator, so that hardly a 
dry eye was to be found in the house. A similar in- 
stance is mentioned by the Eev. Dr. W. J. E. Taylor, 
in a sermon preached on occasion of Mr. Frelinghuy- 
sen's death. In illustration of his '^peculiar powers 
of eloquent speech," the preacher says, " Thus I re- 
member how, a few years ago, when some converted 
Indians were introduced at one of the sessions of the 
American Board of Foreign Missions, he welcomed 
them in an impromptu address which thrilled the vast 
assembly, and so paralyzed the utterance of others, 
that even one of the most eminent pulpit orators of 
our time, who was to follow him, only apologized, and 
exclaiming, 'But who can come after the king?' sat 
down among the tearful multitude." 

His reported speeches are not a fair expression of 
his oratorical powers. His mind, strong and richly 
furnished as it was, needed the spur of opposition or 
provocation to bring out its full capacity. It is true 
that, when he spoke on set occasions, after preparation 
in the calmness of the closet, what he said was always 
appropriate, judicious, and instructive; but these pro- 
ductions bore no comparison to the utterances of the 
same man when upon his feet before a popular assem- 
bly, with his whole soul aroused and a vehement in- 
ward impulse urging him to speak. Then he seemed 
to rise with the magnitude of the subject or the occa- 
sion. Thoughts marshaled themselves in the order 
of a natural logic, and words tripped like nimble serv- 
itors at a master's bidding. At such times he was 
every inch an orator. His whole frame was moved. 
His voice responded accurately to every phase of his 



PERSONAL TRAITS AND HABITS. 125 

feelings. He was vehement, yet not overstrained; 
earnest, yet by no means frantic. In the very whirl 
of excitement he was master of himself, and therefore 
of his audience, whom he electrified and carried away 
as if with a magician's spell. 

He usually began to speak in a slow, simple style, 
gradually warming as he proceeded. He never was 
at a loss for words, but went on with increasing fluen- 
cy to the end. He was animated and impassioned, 
and at times overwhelming. His eloquence was of 
that kind to which no report ever does or can do jus- 
tice. The kindling eye, the heaving form, the express- 
ive tones, the impetuous emotion, can not be trans- 
ferred to paper. The outward man responded in ev- 
ery muscle and fibre to the inward passion. The 
earnestness of the speaker, and his intense conviction 
of the truth and importance of what he was saying, 
took full hold of his audience, and made an impression 
which long outlasted the occasion. Men often ad- 
mired and praised the speaker, but still oftener they 
forgot him and thought only of what they were to do. 

In speaking before benevolent and religious institu- 
tions, the effect produced depended almost entirely 
upon the frame of mind in which he happened to be 
at the time. If called upon at the first, or in an or- 
dinary state of mind, he never came up to his reputa- 
tion. But if suddenly stirred by some perilous crisis, 
or roused by the energy of some preceding speaker, 
he seemed to break loose from all fetters, and soar at 
once into the region of natural and vehement elo- 
quence. His soul took fire. His logic was red-hot. 
His appeals were irresistible. Before the audience 



126 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

were aware, they found themselves borne away at a 
master's will, and every thought and feeling absorbed 
in the rushing flow of the orator's voice. 

"And when the stream 
Which overflowed the soul was passed away, • 
A consciousness remained that it had left 
Deposited upon the silent shore 
Of memory, images and precious thoughts 
That shall not die and can not be destroyed." 

The following interesting reminiscence of Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen's ability as a persuasive speaker has been, 
kindly furnished to the author by the Kev. Dr. Magie, 
ofElizabeth,KJ.: 

"You ask me to give you a little incident which I 
mentioned at our recent Sabbath-school Convention 
of a man whom I never think of but with respect and 
love. Christians owe it to themselves, as well as to 
the cause of Christ, not to forget the late Theodore 
Frelinghuysen. To whom can parents better recom- 
mend their children as an example of all that is bright 
and beautiful in character; and of whom can the 
Church speak to her members better suited to encour- 
age high aims and efforts in her service? I hope you 
will be enabled to embalm his memory, and render it 
fragrant for ages to come. 

"The incident, with its associations, was this: A 
good brother had just pronounced a brief and touch- 
ing eulogy upon that incomparable man, in connection 
with Sabbath- schools, and telling us that when chosen 
to the office of superintendent of a school in the Church 
to which he belonged, he prevented all apology for 
putting so much additional work upon hands already 
full by declaring that he regarded the post as, on some 
accounts, more honorable than that of senator of the 
United States. My heart was moved, as was every 
other heart present, and, in a moment, a crowd of ten- 



PERSONAL TRAITS AND HABITS. 127 

der recollections came pouring in upon me. No oth- 
er person present tiad enjoyed the privilege of an ac- 
quaintance with him for so many years, and I confess 
to some rising of desire, just then and there, to appear 
in connection with a name so esteemed and illustrious. 

" Mr. Frelinghuysen was in attendance as an elder 
of the Second Church of Newark upon the sessions of 
the Synod of New Jersey, held in my lecture-room. 
A minute was under consideration recommending the 
cause of African Colonization to the confidence of our 
churches, but it was opposed by an aged and venera- 
ble minister present on the ground that this was no 
cure for the evils of slavery, and, indeed, was adapted 
in his opinion to rivet the chains of the poor blacks 
still more firmly. The speech was able, and was lis- 
tened to by many with feelings of deep regret. At 
its close all eyes were turned to Mr. Frelinghuysen. 
His eloquence as a speaker, the influence he was rap- 
idly gaining in the community as a man of enlight- 
ened and generous philanthropy, and especially the 
deep interest he had begun to manifest in the welfare 
of the poor blacks, all pointed to him as the person 
who must put things right before the Synod. In a 
few minutes he rose with a face shining like the face 
of an angel, and for twenty minutes he held us all 
completely entranced. 

"The tones of his voice seem still to ring in my ears 
as he pleaded for doing what we could, even if we 
could not do every thing. Eeferring to the preaching 
of John the Baptist, when first the people general- 
ly, then the publicans, and last the soldiers, crowded 
around him, saying, ' What shall we do ?' he repeated 
the words of the bold man in tones that awakened the 
response of gushing tears. I need not say that the 
resolution was adopted with but a single dissenting 
voice. 

"This scene, let me add, brought to me and to sev- 
eral members of the Synod another rich treat. Dr. 



128 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

Archibald Alexander was staying at my house, and 
never shall I forget his manner as, laying off his coat, 
he entered the parlor, exclaiming, ' This is wonderful ; 
I have long esteemed Mr. Frelinghuysen, and consid- 
ered him a most excellent man, but never till this after- 
noon was I aware of his power. I have been remind- 
ed of some of the very best efforts of Patrick Henry.' 
The good old man then went on to give us some de- 
lightful reminiscences of that prodigy of ready elo- 
quence as witnessed by himself. 

"But I must not go farther. The mention of the 
name of Theodore Frelinghuysen touched a chord in 
my heart which must vibrate so long as it is in me to 
revere unsullied purity of character, venerate exalted 
station, and love mild and childlike Christian piety. 
Heaven seems to me more attractive for the hope that 
I shall meet the beloved man there." 



i 



ORIGIN OF 5IS PIETY. 129 



CHAPTER VIII. 

ORIGIN AND CHARACTER OF HIS PIETY. 

Early Impressions. — Conversion at Newark. — Influence of his Broth- 
er's Death. — Eminence of his Piety. — Its Elements: 1. Simplicity 
of Faith; 2. Humility; 3. Devotional Habits; 4, Geniality* 5.Ten- 
dernesss of Conscience ; 6. Completeness ; 7. The Fruit of Culture. 
— Letter from Dr. Woodbridge. 

Mr. Frelinghuysen was born within the pale of 
the Christian Church, and in infancy received the bap- 
tismal seal of his birthright. He was carefully trained 
in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and while 
yet young manifested the same tenderness of con- 
science which characterized all his mature years. His 
deepest religious impressions were traced by himself 
to the influence of his pious grandmother, the Juf- 
vrouw Hardenbergh, who took particular pains to 
lead him to the Savior. Deservedly eminent for her 
piety, she was far from being austere, but, on the con- 
trary, gracious and winning. Her heart was set on 
seeing the ministry recruited from her own family, 
and, though disappointed in this respect in the career 
of her oldest son, she renewed her desire in the case 
of his children. Theodore, in his advanced years, 
gratefully acknowledged his indebtedness to her pious 
counsels, which, although they did not attain their 
end at once, yet sank deep into his memory and heart, 
and laid the foundation for the solid and symmetric- 
al Christian character which he afterward exhibited. 

F 2 



130 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

There is no reason to suppose that his religious 
views and sensibilities suffered any deterioration while 
at school in Basking Kidge. Dr. Finley was remark- 
able for the attention which he paid to the spiritual 
culture of his pupils. The Kev. Dr. Studdiford, of 
Lambertville, N. J., speaks very warmly of his holy 
earnestness in this work, and of his success in bring- 
ing truth forcibly home to the minds of youth. And 
Mr. Frelinghuysen's younger brother, Frederick, who 
was also one of Dr. Finley's scholars, bore witness on 
his dying bed to the fidehty of "that good man," 
through whose instrumentality " the Lord began to 
be gracious to his soul, and to sow the good seed in 
his young and tender heart." Still, no such change 
appears to have been wrought as yet upon the mind 
of Theodore. He was correct, moral, conscientious, 
and studiously observant of the outward duties of re- 
ligion, but nothing more ; nor did he reach the final 
decision until he came to reside in Newark. 

Here he became interested in the founding of the 
Second Presbyterian Church, and was elected a mem- 
ber of its first Board of Trustees in January, 1811. 
He was received into the full communion of the 
Church in September, 1817, under the pastoral care 
of the Eev. Dr. Grifiin, of whose ministrations he was 
always accustomed to speak in terms of the highest 
respect and gratitude. Not many months before his 
death, when writing to the Rev. Dr. Few Smith, in ac- 
knowledgment of his discourse on the fiftieth anni- 
versary of the Second Church, he used this expression 
in reference to his coming to Christ: "I feel a strong 
interest in that dear sanctuary where my own hopes 



ORIGIN OF HIS PIETY. 131 

of salvation first trembled into . experience." This 
"sweet and characteristic" expression well describes 
the prevailing type of his religious experience. The 
law-work^ as the old-fashioned divines express it, was 
wrought upon his soul with great power. He had a 
deep sense of the evil of sin, of the justice of God, of 
the deceitfulness of the heart, of the perils of tempta- 
tion ; and he habitually trembled under the fear of 
offending his gracious Savior. 

A few years after his connection with the Second 
Church, his seriousness and spirituality were greatly 
increased by the dealings of the Lord with his brother 
Frederick, who, after five weeks of illness, was re- 
moved by death in November, 1820. This brother 
had been, while yet young, brought very nigh to the 
kingdom, but afterward strayed into forbidden paths, 
so much so as to be even infected with deistical sen- 
timents. He was, however, graciously restored, and, 
but a few months before his death, delivered an elo- 
quent address before the Somerset County Bible Soci- 
ety. At the last communion season of the Church in 
Millstone, N. J., which he attended, he was greatly in- 
clined to join himself to the number of God's profess- 
ed people, but, through fear of unfitness, and dread of 
subsequently becoming a reproach to the cause, de- 
termined to postpone the matter. When overtaken by 
disease he saw his error, confessed his sin, and sought 
earnestly, as a new sacramental season was approach- 
ing, to be examined and received by the officers of 
the Church. His request was granted, and in his sick- 
room he made a noble confession of Christ. Hence- 
forward he spent his whole time in prayer and praise. 



132 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEN. 

in sweet expressions of submission to the Divine will, 
in earnest entreaties to his impenitent friends and 
neighbors to seek the salvation of their souls, and in 
pious communion with the Christian friends around 
his bedside. The printed narrative of his exercises 
states that on one occasion, "his second brother [The- 
odore] went to him and said, ' Frederick, the Savior 
must appear very precious to you now.' He raised 
his hands, his countenance beaming with inexpressi- 
ble joy and serenity, and said, ' Oh, Theodore, Theo- 
dore, I have not language to describe it. The enjoy- 
ment of this hour is greater than that of my whole 
life.'" At other times, when urged to desist from 
speaking, and seek, if possible, to get some sleep, he 
answered, " "Why ? I am much happier than if I were 
asleep, and what I say may do good hereafter." 

The whole scene is described by those who wit- 
nessed it, some of whom, after the lapse of forty years, 
still retain a vivid recollection of it, as most affecting. 
The impression it made upon Theodore was decided 
and indelible. It was so pervading as to render him, 
in the judgment of his friends, almost another man. 
He seemed to ascend at once to a higher plane of the 
Christian life, to make a new and entire consecration 
of himself to the Savior, and to walk henceforth as in 
the continual presence of things unseen and eternal. 

Nor was this a short-lived impulse. It ended only 
with his life. There have been few believers in any 
age whose course and character have been marked by 
so little that is fitful and evanescent. His course was 
literally like the shining light, which shineth more and 
more unto the perfect day. There was no obvious 



ORIGIN OF HIS PIETY. 133 

abatement or pause in his steady walk witli God. 
While in the world he was not of it, but overcame it, 
often in circumstances sufficiently difficult and per- 
plexing. His religion was not a thing of time and 
place, an appendage, a separable part of the man. It 
was the man himself. It pervaded his whole charac- 
ter, shaped his course, entered into the very elements 
of his being, and made him what he was. Like Jo- 
seph of Arimathea, he was an honorable counselor, 
but, like him also, he was a good man and a just. 

His piety did not derive its eminence simply from 
the force of contrast, from the fact that it is so rare to 
find any spiritual Christianity at all among those who 
are embarked upon the troubled sea of politics. On 
the contrary, it was great absolutely as well as rela- 
tively. Had he been confined to private life, wholly 
unknown beyond a narrow circle, still within that 
circle he would have been a Christian of mark, emi- 
nent for spirituality, self-denial, heavenly -mindedness, 
consistency, purity, and usefulness. There was such 
a completeness in his character, such a harmony be- 
tween the inward and the outward, such an attention 
to the greater duties without the neglect of the lesser, 
such an evident candor and sincerity, such an earn- 
estness and meekness of spirit, that all who knew him 
even slightly, much more those who enjoyed his fa- 
miliar intercourse, felt that he was a man after God's 
own heart. 

1. In considering the characteristic elements of his 
piety, those who knew him well were most struck by 
the great simplicity of his faith. While he was well 
grounded in the abstruser doctrines of the Christian 



134 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

system and thoroughly versed in its evidences, lie had 
a spiritual perception of the truth as it is in Jesus. 
He saw his own wants, and the admirable provision 
made for them in the Savior's finished work. He 
was willing to count all things but loss for the excel- 
lent knowledge of Christ, because his own experience 
taught him its inexpressible value. He rested, there- 
fore, upon the revelations and promises of the written 
Word with a confiding, childlike faith, the very sim- 
plicity of which made it invincible to all the assaults 
of skepticism or worldliness. It was not necessary for 
him to be able logically to refute any of the various 
charges which human or diabolic subtlety has brought 
against the Gospel. He had the witness in himself, 
and therefore stood unmoved amid all the clamor of 
skeptics and scoffers. His natural intelligence in- 
clined him at times to investigate the more recondite 
parts of theology, and in mature years he refreshed 
his early classical studies for the sake of studying the 
New Testament in the original, yet the prevailing 
type of his religious thoughts and meditations was of 
a simpler cast. 

This view of his faith is pleasantly confirmed by 
the following statement in his own words, for which 
I am indebted to my friend and colleague, the Rev. J. 
T. Duryea, who was present on the occasion referred 
to: 

" President Frelinghuj^sen was addressing a little 
company of the friends of Sabbath-schools in New 
Brunswick, and encouraging them to hope for the ear- 
ly conversion of children, because of the simplicity of 
the way of life, and its adaptedness to the comprehen- 
sion of the most youthful minds. 



CHAEACTER OF HIS PIETY. 135 

"He said, 'After all, we must, however wise or 
great in our own estimation or in the estimation of 
others, become as little children in order to enter the 
kingdom of heaven. The simple facts of the Gospel 
are the foundation of our hope. This is my experi- 
ence. I have tried to study the mysteries of our re- 
ligion. I have read the great apostle's writings, and 
meditated upon them with much satisfaction, and have 
endeavored to trace his arguments and fathom his 
meaning. But when I think of myself, a sinner be- 
fore God — when I look forward to death, and the 
judgment, and eternity, I forget these deep things of 
God; faith clings to one precious truth, and hope adds 
to it another, and they are these : Jesus Christ loved 
me and died for me, and I feel in my poor sinful heart 
a responsive throb of love to him.' " 

2. Humility was another eminently characteristic 
feature of Mr. Frelinghuysen's character. His lowli- 
ness was profound and unaffected. It sprang from 
the deep sense which he had, on the one hand, of the 
Divine holiness, and, on the other, of human depravity. 
Measuring himself by the lofty standard of the Scrip- 
tures, he continually saw enough of defect, even in his 
best services and holiest exercises, to keep him in a 
low place before God. Hence the permanency of this 
trait. He grew in grace, in knowledge, in wisdom, in 
usefulness, and could scarcely fail to have some con- 
sciousness of the fact ; but at the same time he grew 
in his perception of the strictness and spirituality of 
the Divine law, and thus there was always maintained 
the same relative distance between his attainments 
and the mark at which he aimed. 

This humility was rendered more remarkable by 
the circumstances which surrounded him. He had to 



136 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEN. 

contend not only with the ordinary temptations to 
pride arising from his birth, connections, professional 
success, and personal popularity, but also with the 
keener and more insidious allurements suggested by 
the general recognition of his position as a prominent 
Christian leader. This recognition came before him 
in various ways, in his presence on the platform, by 
letter, in the public prints, and by the action of corpo- 
rate bodies, as well as in ordinary social intercourse. 
When expressed in gross and obvious forms, it gave 
him great displeasure and encountered severe rebuke. 
Once, in Newark, a lady who belonged to the Church 
he served as elder said to him, " I went to the prayer- 
meeting this morning to meet you and hear you pray, 
and you were not there !" With mournful severity 
he replied, " Was not Cod there ? I thought you went 
to meet Himr Frequently, at public meetings, his 
countenance has testified the great pain he felt in be- 
ing obliged to sit and listen to personal adulation. 
On one of these occasions, the offensive speaker, after 
the exercises were ended, called at Mr. Frelinghuy- 
sen's house, and immediately received a severe re- 
proof, in which the good man declared, with godly 
sorrow and deep humility, that such utterances dese- 
crated God's house and service, and were very abhor- 
rent to all his feelings. The unanimous testimony of 
all who were in occasional or habitual intercourse 
with him is that they never saw any appearance of 
elation in his deportment or conversation. Whether 
he had such feelings only the Searcher of hearts can 
say, but that he never manifested them is very certain. 
Growing honors seemed only to drive him back closer 



CHARACTER OF HIS PIETY. 137 

to the mercy-seat. The praise of men only made him 
more sensible how little he deserved the praise of 
God. And so it continued through life. As the full 
head of ripened grain bends lower than the immature 
or empty stalk, so he, in the maturity of his years and 
fame, bowed only the more humbly in his Maker's 
presence. To the last he received the kingdom of 
God "as a little child." He had nothing, he was 
nothing, but Christ was all and in all. 

This trait was so marked in him that it attracted 
the attention and admiration even of worldly men. 
It is said that the celebrated John Kandolph, of Ro- 
anoke, once speaking in his sarcastic way of certain 
pretenders to righteousness, suddenly turned to Mr. 
Frelinghuysen, and pointing toward him, said, " This 
man does not boast of religion, but he has it, he has 

it." 

Perhaps there never lived a more unassuming man. 
He never struggled for pre-eminence any where or in 
any relation. The civil honors or offices bestowed 
upon him were in all cases unsolicited, even where 
they were such as might be justly esteemed the wor- 
thy aims of an honorable ambition. The same re- 
mark is true in reference to academic, social, or relig- 
ious distinctions. All came to him without the least 
hint or suggestion on his part. He had successfully 
schooled himself to obey the apostolic injunctions, 
"In honor preferring one another;" "Let each esteem 
other better than himself" Habitually he deferred 
to others, not through weakness, cowardice, or a de- 
sire to escape responsibility, but from a desire in this 
way to illustrate and adorn the doctrine of Christ. 



138 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEN. 

Some have deemed that he pushed this rare and ami- 
able trait to an excess, so that it became a weakness. 
Yet this, may well be doubted. When circumstances 
required, Mr. Frelinghuysen stood firm as a rock in 
support of a principle or a duty, but in all cases where 
only personal considerations were concerned he re- 
garded the rule, "Let every one of us please his neigh- 
bor for his good to edification," and imitated, as far as 
mortal man could, the example of Him of whom it is 
written, " For even Christ pleased not himself" It is 
hard for those who knew his dignity, independence, 
firmness, and courage, to conceive how his close fol- 
lowing of his Divine Master in this most difficult and 
characteristic grace could degenerate into an infirmi- 
ty, or be confounded with the timidity which surren- 
ders honest convictions out of an unbecoming defer- 
ence to the opinion or will of others. 

8. Mr. Frelinghuysen's faith and humility were nur- 
tured by his life -long habits of devotion. He was 
by eminence a man of prayer. It was his " native 
breath." He not only felt it as a necessity, but re- 
joiced in it as a privilege. In the busiest period of 
his life, when worldly cares pressed hardest upon him, 
it was his custom to imitate the Psalmist, who said, 
"Evening and morning, and at noon, will I pray." 
His profession and his practice corresponded here as 
beautifully as they did in other matters. At an ear- 
ly period of his Christian course he formed the hab- 
it of devoting a quarter of an hour in the middle of 
the day to prayer. And this he never relinquished. 
Sometimes circumstances prevented him from retiring 
to his closet at the exact time, but the service was not 



CHARACTER OF HIS PIETY. 139 

therefore omitted. The earliest subsequent leisure he 
could command, even if it did not occur before night- 
fall, was carefully appropriated to the purpose. And 
it is believed that this devotional service was not in- 
termitted even once in the course of more than forty 
years. It may be added here that his custom was, in 
his private devotions, to pray aloud, because, as he 
said, he found it the best way to prevent wandering 
thoughts. Robert Hall, who had the same habit of 
oral, audible private prayer, pursued it from the con- 
viction ''that silent prayer was apt to degenerate into 
meditation, while, from our compound nature, a man 
can not but be affected by the sound of his own voice 
when adequately expressing what is really felt." ISTor 
was he a stranger to the custom of observing extraor- 
dinary and protracted seasons of prayer, accompanied 
with abstinence from food. The notion which obtains 
so extensively in our day that fasting, when enjoined 
by the Scriptures, is to be understood figuratively, and 
does not involve the omission of a single meal, did 
not commend itself to his old-fashioned piety. Al- 
though no ascetic, and no believer in the propriety of 
bodily mortification for its own sake, he yet cherish- 
ed occasional fasting as an appropriate expression of 
a penitential spirit, and an admirable help in the cul- 
tivation of a devotional frame of mind. It need hard- 
ly be added that this was always done, so far as possi- 
ble, in such a way that he would "not seem unto men 
to fast." 

His prayerfulness was intimately connected with 
the study of the Word of God. This study was con- 
ducted, not as a philological exercise, nor to solve the- 



140 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

ological problems, nor to refresli liis taste with the 
highest models of literary excellence, but as a means 
of his own growth in grace. One who was for many 
years a member of his household writes to the author 
as follows: "From every thing he turned with new 
interest to the Bible. I never knew so constant a stu- 
dent of it — not as a duty, but from real pleasure. So 
that I often said to him, ' Uncle, you must know it 
by heart.' 'Oh no,' he would say, 'I see new beau- 
ties every time I open it.' He was in the habit, as 
long as I can remember, of taking, after dinner, his 
Bible and a little manual of prayer, and spending half 
an hour or more in reading. So a little text-book 
of Scripture was laid near his best razor, and I don't 
believe he would have considered the shaving proper- 
ly done without the morning's text to meditate upon." 
Another intimate acquaintance says, " He studied the 
Scripture with ever new delight. Its stjde, he used 
to say, was the perfection of beauty and simplicity. 
It was no unusual thing to see him reading the Word 
throughout a long winter evening, never taking up 
any other book, although many were lying beside him 
on the table." 

It was this habit of constant devotional study of the 
Scripture which caused his uniform spiritually-mind- 
edness. There were seasons when his nervous tem- 
perament, or the irritability caused by bodily disease, 
led him to speak with what afterward seemed to be 
undue harshness; but this never occurred without 
giving him infinite grief in the retrospect, and send- 
ing him anew, with strong crying and tears, to the 
mercy-seat. In every emergency of every kind, as 



CHAKACTER OF HIS PIETY. 141 

well as on set occasions from day to day, tie resorted 
to the Bible and prayer. In the one God spoke to 
him, in the other he spoke to God ; and this unbroken 
communion with the Most High lay at the foundation 
of his extremely thorough Christian character. It 
continually refreshed him when worn and wearied by 
professional toil. It kept him from being absorbed in 
temporal duties and interests. It enabled him to car- 
ry a heavenly temper into all the scenes and associa- 
tions of daily life. This was very apparent in his 
treatment of such as trespassed on his rights or feel- 
ings. He rarely manifested displeasure, although his 
sensibility was keen ; and when he did, was always 
ready and eager to accept any explanation and extend 
the most cordial forgiveness. A friend once said to 
him, " I have forgiven the offense, but can't forget it." 
His answer was, " That kind of forgiveness will not 
bear the light of heaven. You are deceiving your- 
self." He once received a letter, written under a mis- 
taken sense of duty, the contents of which wounded 
him deeply. After his death that letter was found 
among his papers, bearing this endorsement in his own 
handwriting : 'And be ye kind to one another, ten- 
der-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for 
Christ's sake, hath forgiven you." 

4. Yet his piety was of a decidedly genial cast. 
With all its strictness and spirituality, it never degen- 
erated into sanctimoniousness or gloom. Naturally 
of a buoyant temperament, with a large capacity for 
mirth and innocent enjoyment, these qualities were 
enhanced and refined by the grace which was in him. 
He had his trials indeed, and there was one source of 



1^2 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN". 

anxious thought, to which I shall advert in a subse- 
quent chapter, which he carried with him through 
life ; but these were borne with patience and meek- 
ness of wisdom ; nor did they hinder him from being, 
in the main, a serene, happy Christian. Sometimes 
ill health and other similar causes depressed his spir- 
its, but, in general, the habit of his mind was a play- 
ful gayety, which, so far from being extinguished, 
was rather heightened and purified by his religious 
faith and hope. There was nothing sour or morose 
about him. He delighted in the play of the social 
and domestic affections. He enjoyed the society of 
kindred and friends. Having himself a vein of hu- 
mor and a keen sense of the ludicrous, he greatly rel- 
ished those qualities in others, and his contagious 
laugh quickly responded to any amusing tale. And 
this is one cause why the young always found him 
such an agreeable companion. But while thus cheer- 
ful, it was always in reason and moderation. The 
proprieties of time and place were sedulously regard- 
ed, and even amid sallies of mirth and sparkling jests 
there was an under tone of seriousness such as becom- 
eth saints. 

His faith concurred with his constitutional pecul- 
iarities to maintain this pleasant, attractive type of 
character. He was accustomed to seek for and ob- 
serve the hand of Providence in all the events of life, 
and therefore found a double charm in every tempo- 
ral blessing, while he had a sure resource in the time 
of trial or disaster. Besides, he had in his own soul 
the peace which passeth understanding. He enjoyed 
the service of God. The Divine thoughts were pre- 



CHAHACTER OF HIS PIETY. 143 

cious to him. His meditations on sacred themes were 
often very, very sweet. And so the joy of the Lord 
was the strength of his soul. Men found in him an 
unbending integrity which commanded respect, but 
also a refined humanity which won their aflection. 
His life showed that the most inflexible adherence to 
the rule of right did not require the abridgment of a 
single rational pleasure. 

5. Tenderness of conscience was another eminently 
characteristic feature of his piety. He carried his 
Christian principles into every walk of life. He re- 
garded all things from a religious point of view, and 
conscience maintained a supreme and unchallenged 
dominion over his entire course. His one great desire 
in things small and great, public or private, was to do 
what was right. Few men have ever lived who so 
carefully and constantly canvassed the correctness of 
their deportment in every minute particular. Nor 
did this degenerate into scrupulosity, a morbid sensi- 
tiveness which makes offenses where none really ex- 
ist, and poisons peace without promoting holiness. 
Mr. Frelinghuysen's piety was too intelligent and 
healthy to waste its energies on chimeras. Yet it was 
studiously careful in respect to real difficulties. He 
was not content with first impressions or hasty con- 
clusions, but, as if well aware of the unequaled de- 
ceitfulness of the heart, subjected acts and motives to 
the most rigid ordeal, so as to preserve a conscience 
void of offense toward God and toward man. He was 
in the fear of the Lord all the day long, and lived "as 
ever in his great Taskmaster's eye." 

The consequence was an unparalleled rectitude of 



144 LIFE OF FKELINGHUYSEN. 

life, such a degree of blameless integrity as excited 
tlie amazement and admiration of all who knew him. 
An instance or two may be mentioned as illustrations. 
He was very fond of game, which was regularly sup- 
plied to him by an old colored man named York; but 
when York sent any at the time when the law of the 
land forbade them to be killed, no persuasion could 
prevail upon him to eat them. Even during his last 
sickness, when his appetite was delicate and capricious, 
and it was almost impossible to obtain any food which 
he could take, his reverence for law prevailed, and the 
quails which had been provided were sent away un- 
touched. These were little things, but they were such 
trifles as indicate character. Mr. Frelinghuysen's un- 
bending rule of right recognized no distinction of 
great and small in moral questions. 

6. Another feature of his piety was its comioleteness. 
It was in no respect fragmentary, or fitful, or one- 
sided, but full-orbed — a complete, rounded whole. In 
the case of most believers, it is certain features of their 
character, or particular portions of their lives upon 
which the thoughts of their friends love to linger, and 
from which incitements to Christian excellence may 
draw an animating example. But it was not so with 
Theodore Frelinghuysen. His whole course, from 
first to last, was of one texture. Fervid as his piety 
was, it never ran into enthusiastic extravagance. Act- 
ive as he was in any one form of Christian duty or 
beneficence, he never forgot that there were others. 
No one trait in his character stands out so prominent- 
ly as to dwarf all the rest in comparison, but the en- 
tire sisterhood of Christian graces seemed to grow to- 



CHAEACTER OF HIS PIETY. 145 

gether, mutually supporting each other, and consti- 
tuting, in their combined effect, the exquisite symme- 
try and fullness of the perfect man in Christ Jesus. 
More than thirty years ago, that shrewd observer of 
men and manners, the Kev. Dr. James W. Alexander, 
wrote from Trenton, N. J., to a friend, '' Mr. Freling- 
huysen is here at this time, full of the subject of Tem- 
perance. He is a singular instance of a man zealous- 
ly devoted to every good enterprise, without the slight- 
est eccentricity." 

There were, of course, defects in his walk, infirmi- 
ties which cost him many a tear; but, despite these, 
there was that in him which brings up vividly to 
mind Mr. Clay's descriptive epithet that he was "self- 
poised." He passed through seasons of religious awak- 
ening when whole communities were bowed by the 
presence of the Spirit, and he himself was deeply 
moved ; he engaged in schemes of social and personal 
amelioration very absorbing to a humane or Christian 
mind ; he was closely allied with organizations litera- 
ry, charitable, and religious, which are prone to en- 
gross all the thoughts of their agents and advocates ; 
but he never appeared to swing from his moorings, or 
lose the admirable balance of his character. Every 
where, and at all times, he was an humble, earnest 
Christian, sweetly blending contemjDlation and action, 
full of love to God and love to man, abounding in the 
graces which are distinctively evangelical, yet without 
rant or cant, without turbulence or rashness, filling the 
position the Lord had assigned him without encroach- 
ing on others, happy when success crowned his efltbrts, 
yet never bitter or impatient because of delay or failure. 

G 



146 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

His piety was not absolutely complete, but it made 
as near an approach to that excellence as the present 
generation has seen. 

7. Many who saw Mr. Frelinghuy sen's Christian ex- 
cellence only at a distance, or knew it only by report, 
have supposed that he made an exceptional case to 
the ordinary lot of believers ; that he had some spe- 
cial facilities, some happy peculiarities of constitution, 
which rendered holy living easy and natural to him. 
This is far from being the case. His piety was the 
fruit of assiduous culture. He had difficulties to con- 
tend with both within and without. Although natu- 
rally of an amiable disposition, and from early youth 
possessed of an active and sensitive conscience, yet he 
had native infirmities of temper and temperament 
which it required a constant struggle to subdue. His 
own experience gave him insight into the inward con- 
test between flesh and spirit, sense and faith, so often 
alluded to in the apostolic epistles. He needed to 
watch, and fight, and pray as much as the weakest or 
obscurest believer in the land. He used the various 
means of grace, private, social, and public, with ea- 
gerness and constancy, as one to whom they were not 
only attractive, but necessary. The care with which 
he sought to benefit by the preaching of the Word is 
shown by the fact that he uniformly, on returning 
home from public worship, retired to his room to pray 
for a blessing upon the service. He studied his own 
heart, he learned by experience, he guarded against 
temptation, he gave all diligence to make his calling 
and election sure. He was, in the old sense of the 
term, a jpainful Christian ; that is, one who took pains 



CHARACTER OF HIS PIETY. 147 

to reach and preserve a high standard of character. 
His exquisite consistency, and purity, and maturity 
were not the result of some happy accident or of 
some semi - miraculous endowment, but the natural 
outgrowth of seed planted, watered, and ripened un- 
der the blessing of the Good Spirit. No help toward 
a close walk with God was so small that he did not 
diligently use it; no temptation or infirmity was so 
trifling that he did not deplore and fight against it. 
If there be a royal road to eminent holiness, assured- 
ly he did not walk in it ; on the contrary, his route 
was through the strait gate and on the narrow way, 
with many a cross and many a conflict. It would be 
sad were the lustre of his course and character to 
blind any to the incessant vigilance and effort by 
which, with the Divine favor, he obtained such good 
report among the people of God. 

The reader will observe a remarkable confirmation 
of many of the foregoing statements in the following 
letter from the Eev. Dr. Woodbridge, professor in the 
Theological Seminary of the Reformed Dutch Church, 
written at the author's request : 

" New Brunswick, September 3, 1862. 

"Dear Brother, — For nine years immediately 
preceding the death of Mr. Frelinghuysen I was 
brought into near relations with him, chiefly as his 
pastor, and during all this time I had increasing con- 
viction that there was in him, to a remarkable degree, 
the elements which constitute greatness in the king- 
dom of God. 

" The feature of his character which first struck a 
stranger aware of his position and national reputation 
was his extreme simplicity. He illustrated more ful- 



148 LIFE OF FRELINanUYSEN. 

ly than any man I ever knew the language of Clirist, 
that he who would receive the kingdom of God must 
become 'as a little child.' His prayers, his addresses, 
his intercourse with Christians, all partook of this 
childlike spirit. It was not assumed, but seemed per- 
fectly natural, an essential part of his character. Nor 
did it give to him any appearance of weakness. The 
language he uttered might be pure and simple, but 
the thoughts were the great revelations of the Gospel 
of God. He seemed to be entirely unconscious of 
possessing any remarkable degree of grace ; upon the 
contrary, he constantly manifested a profound humili- 
ty. He appeared to be deeply sensible of the plague 
of his own heart — so sensible of it that not unfre- 
quently, while the light that was in him was shining 
forth so that all saw it, and many were rejoicing in 
his pious words and generous acts, he was doubting 
whether the enlightening influence of the Spirit of 
grace had ever entered his heart. His clear and ha- 
bitual views of the greatness and holiness of God 
seemed to repress and banish self-confidence and spir- 
itual pride. He shrank from adulation ; he was afraid 
of self- righteousness as a foe to his peace and to God; 
and even in his last sickness, when one recalled to his 
memory the useful life he had lived, he begged all 
present to remember that he was the chief of sinners. 
Not one ray would he detract, even in thought, from 
the glory of God's grace. 

" One could not be with him long without discover- 
ing liow strong ivas his faith. The time for reaspning 
and doubt had long since passed away. ^ Christianity 
was not 2^'i^i on^ but was interwoven, as it were, with 
all the faculties of his mind and heart — with his very 
being ; it spoke out spontaneously in his language ; 
the idea of the kingdom of God entered wholly into 
all his conceptions and plans of life. I often felt, 
when with him, how utterly impossible it woukl be 
for any power on earth to shake his faith in the Word 



CHARACTER OF HIS PIETY. 149 

of God ; he ' seemed to be a pillar' in the house of 
the Lord ; his heart was fixed ; he might have con- 
flicts, but he could no more fall away from the Gos- 
pel of Christ than from any other essential condition 
of human existence. This impression arose, I think, 
from the spontaneousness with which he uttered the 
language of the Christian. 

" I have more than once admitted the exceeding 
clearness of his views of truth. To many of the mod- 
ern works of error he had evidently given no special 
reading, but it was in vain that any errorist attempted 
to deceive him. As if by a kind of Christian instinct, 
his soul refused to receive any thing but the pure 
milk or the strong meat of the Lord. He did not love 
controversy, but he detected in a moment what was 
contrary to sound doctrine, and without censorious- 
ness, with a few simple words, usually drawn from 
Scripture, he set aside the fallacy. 

" That a beautifully consistent life should flow from 
such a faith was a necessity. Of his constant study 
of the Scripture in his home, and his long communings 
with God, there are friends enough to testify. In 
public he was where duty called him, among the first 
at the weekly prayer-meeting and lecture, frequently 
speaking words of kindly Christian warning to such 
as had no hope, not only to the students in the col- 
lege, but to the thoughtless in the street, and irrespect- 
ive of their condition in society ; and where the honor 
of Christ was concerned, I verily believe, never fear- 
ing the face of man ; ever ready to relieve the dis- 
tressed, to comfort the mourner, to advise the doubt- 
ing. He was a true man, in every respect true, in 
word never exaggerating; in action, in all his life, 
conscientious to a decrree that often occasioned remark. 
He was kin*d and gentle, one who attracted to con- 
fidence, and to whom you would go in the day of 
trouble. I have many a time thought that, were a 
skeptic to ask for the living testimony of the power 



150 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN". 

of the Gospel on the heart and life of man to make 
him true, and honest, and lovely, and of good report, 
I would point him to Theodore Frelinghuysen, and 
ask an explanation of such a life and death. His 
path was that of the just, shining more and more unto 
the perfect day. 

" Yours in the Gospel, S. M. Woodbpjdge." 



HIS RELIGIOUS LIFE. 151 



CHAPTER IX. 

HIS RELIGIOUS LIFE. 

At Home— at the Bar— in Washington— in Church Relations— Sun- 
day-school.— Charity.— Catholicity of Feeling. 

The piety, the origin and leading features of which 
have just been described, manifested itself in every 
appropriate way in Mr. Frehnghuysen's life. It con- 
trolled his entire conduct at home and abroad, in pri- 
vate and in public. Gentle, and courteous, and con- 
ciliating, he yet never shrank from carrying out his 
principles to the very letter. Whatever it might cost, 
he stood immovably for the right, not only as a man 
of integrity and honor, but as a disciple of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. 

He was careful, in accordance with the apostolic 
precept, "to show piety at home." Having no chil- 
dren, he adopted a nephew and niece of his own, also 
a nephew of Mrs. Frelinghuysen, who continued with 
him until they were settled in life. Besides these, he 
took a paternal interest in the numerous children of 
his brothers and sisters and those of his wife, all of 
whom were cordially welcomed to his house, and re- 
ceived his best aid and counsel in their temporal and 
their spiritual interests. Although always free from 
nepotism in any official trust, he never forgot the 
claims of kindred, but held his heart and hand open 
to them as a sacred duty. 



152 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

He was "given to hospitality," and being a gener- 
ous liver, as far from asceticism as lie was from riotous 
prodigality, he delighted to gather congenial associ- 
ates around his table. The company was always a 
cheerful one. The refined courtesy, buoyant spirits, 
and genial tact of the host and hostess, put all at their 
ease, and made old and young equal participants in 
the enjoyment of the occasion. Yet, with all this, the 
household was a Christian one. Not only did the fire 
never go out on the domestic altar, but there was a 
pervading sense of holy things which filled the house 
like an atmosphere, and shed its mellowing influence 
on even the commonest relations and duties. Here 
the character of the man came out in a thousand inci- 
dental ways, indicating his largeness of heart, his sens- 
ibilit}^, his appreciation of social excellence, his care- 
ful consideration for others, his benevolence in little 
things, his thankful enjoyment of Grod's temporal good- 
ness, and his supreme regard for the Divine will in all 
things. His domestic life was a picture of piety with- 
out austerity, of purity without affectation. The voice 
of rejoicing and salvation was heard in his tabernacle. 
His own innocent hilarity was contagious. The peace 
of a good conscience, and the love of man springing 
from the love of God, opened and expanded every 
fountain of natural affection, and sweetly developed 
the ordinary contrasts of age, sex, and character. It 
is said that the skeptic who once passed a week in the 
homo of the eminent and pious London physician, Dr. 
Hope, was converted by the beautiful exhibition of 
cheerful godliness which he there witnessed. A sim- 
ilar result might easily have been produced by a visit 



HIS RELIGIOUS LIFE. 153 

to the domestic circle of Mr.Frelingliuysen. His pie- 
ty was peculiarly deep and spiritual, but it was in no 
degree sour or ungracious. So far from interfering 
with, mirth or social enjoyment, it promoted both, and 
made him a companion as agreeable as he was edify- 
ing to persons of all ages and classes. 

His hospitality had its foundation not only in social 
feeling, but in Christian principle, the Scripture incul- 
cations of the duty being very familiar to his mind and 
his lips. Agents for benevolent institutions, Christian 
laymen, traveling ministers of any denomination, al- 
ways found a welcome at his house. Sometimes the 
influx of visitors was so great and unexpected that it 
required no little ingenuity to meet the demand, but 
in some way it always was met. The sorrowful and 
necessitous so often found a temporary asylum in his 
family, that a lady once said, "Why, Mr. Frelinghuy- 
sen is making his house a house of refuge." " Such," 
he replied, "I would have it to be." This was his ha- 
bitual feeling, although at the very time he was under 
the pressure of heavy professional duties and respon- 
sibilities, and had but little leisure to enjoy the society 
of his household. If the thought ever arose in his 
mind that the demands upon his hospitality were rap- 
idly enlarging, or encroaching upon his domestic com- 
fort, he instantly put it down with the remark which 
he was often heard to make, " I may be entertaining 
angels unawares." 

The bar is not usually considered favorable to the 
culture of the Christian graces. Indeed, a high legal 
authority has said, "There is no profession in which 
so many temptations beset the path to swerve from 

G2 



154: LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEN. 

the line of strict integrity — in which, so many delicate 
and difficult questions are continually arising. There 
are pitfalls and mantraps at every step ; and the mere 
youth, at the outset of his career, needs often the pru- 
dence and self-denial, as well as the moral courage, 
which belong commonly to riper years. High mor- 
al principle is his only safe guide — the only torch 
to light his way amid darkness and obstruction."* 
Popular opinion, indeed, goes farther than this, and 
multitudes seem to be persuaded not only that the le- 
gal profession offers great difficulties in the way of a 
pure morality, but that these difficulties are rarely, if 
ever, surmounted. Without assenting to this extrav- 
agant view, it may yet be said that it requires a con- 
stant struggle, amid all the excitements and perplex- 
ities of a large practice, to maintain an unsullied 
Christian character. And Mr. Frelinghuysen felt this. 
"When appointed attorney general, he remarked, as one 
of the felicities of the position, that it relieved him 
from the constant pressure of a client at his elbow 
urging him to go farther than his own sense of right 
would warrant. Still, difficult as it was to maintain a 
conscience void of offense, he seems habitually to have 
succeeded in the effort. He happily reconciled his 
professional and his Christian duties. The growth of 
his practice indicates that no interest suffered that was 
put into his hands, and yet, in the judgment of all his 
contemporaries, his religious integrity was without a 
stain. Indeed, in the pamphlet of Mr. Courtlandt Par- 
ker, before alluded to, it is said that " his consistent 
morality in his profession, his scorn for petty artifice 

♦Professional Ethics, by Judge Sharswood, Philadelphia, 1860. 



HIS RELIGIOUS LIFE. 155 

and chicanery, his desire to settle rather than protract 
disputes, and his strict integrity in the conduct of legal 
difficulties, won for him such a reputation for honesty, 
that his brother lawyers soon complained that juries 
would believe any thing Mr. Frelinghuysen contend- 
ed for simply because he did so." 

His old classmate and friend, the Kev. Dr. Kirkpat- 
rick, informs the author that he once asked Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen how he managed to keep a clear con- 
science, seeing he must sometimes have to plead in 
justification of the rogue. The answer was, "If a man 
comes to me as a client, I catechise him as much as I 
can. If I think him in the wrong, I send him to an- 
other lawyer. If I believe he is in the right, I do all 
I can for him." But it is perfectly certain that this 
was not his rule in later life. We may therefore sup- 
pose that his mind underwent the same change which 
is recorded by Bishop Burnet respecting Sir Matthew 
Hale, a man whom our American lawyer greatly re- 
sembled : " If he saw a cause was unjust, he for a great 
while would not meddle farther in it but to give his 
advice that it was so. If the parties, after that, would 
go on, they were to seek another counselor, for he 
would assist none in acts of iujustice. If he found 
the cause doubtful or weak in point of law, he always 
advised his clients to agree their business. Yet after- 
ward he abated much of the scurpulosity he had about 
causes that appeared at first unjust, upon this occa- 
sion : there were two causes brought him, which, by 
the ignorance of the party or their attorney, were so 
ill represented to him that they seemed to be very 
bad ; but he, inquiring more narrowly into them, found 



156 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

they were really very good and just. So after this lie 
slackened much of his former strictness of refusing to 
meddle in causes upon the ill circumstances that ap- 
peared in them at first." 

Mr. Frelinghuysen never in word or act assented to 
the monstrous dictum of Lord Brougham, that " an ad- 
vocate, in the discharge of his duty, knows but one 
pesron in all the world, and that person is his client." 
He knew and performed what was due to the court, 
to the bar, and to honor and justice, as well as what 
his client required. At the same time, he early re- 
nounced what Lord Campbell calls "the specious but 
impracticable rule of never pleading except on the 
right side, which would make the counsel to decide 
without knowing either facts or law, and would put 
an end to the administration of justice." 

He was studiously careful of the proprieties of the 
Christian profession in his office and in the court-room. 
Once, a wealthy client, in stating his case, incautious- 
ly uttered an oath. Mr. Frelinghuysen immediately 
arose, and said with deep feeling, " Sir, if you use such 
language again, I will immediately throw up your 
case." The offense was not repeated. 

When Mr. Frelinghuysen was transferred to the 
Senate of the United States, he was subjected to a still 
more trying ordeal. Not a few of his compeers were 
either hopelessly ruined or sadly injured by the vices 
of the capital. But he not only escaped contamination 
from prevailing immoralities, but maintained through- 
out his whole term the same cheerful, simple, unob- 
trusive, but uncompromising godliness. The state of 
his mind, even at a time of the very highest political 



HIS RELIGIOUS LIFE. 157 

excitement, may be learned from some extracts from a 
letter written to his brother in the confidence of fra- 
ternal intercourse. It is dated December 18, 1832 : 

" Your letter finds us in good health, through the 
blessing of our heavenly Father, who has kindly watch- 
ed over us. We have been much excited here by the 
doings of South Carolina. She seems resolved on 
dreadful extremities. The President, I rejoice to per- 
ceive, meets the crisis as becomes the chief magistrate 
of the country. But still our situation is very peril- 
ous. * * * I never more deeply realized our en- 
tire dependence on God, who hath the hearts of rulers 
and people in His control, who buildeth up and cast- 
eth down. May we look to His infinite riches of mer- 
cy and grace, and bear in faith the interests of our be- 
loved country to His holy keeping. It is a season of 
peculiar claim on the Christian ; he has an interest 
with a prayer -hearing God ; and if the Lord leaves us 
to confusion of counsel, and to the curse of selfish and 
ambitious desires and purposes, we will be a ruined 
people. * ^ * 

^' We have peculiar trials in these high places of 
fashion. We have established a Congressional pray- 
er-meeting on Thursday evening weekly. There were 
eight at the last meeting. More than twenty have 
agreed to attend. I hope to be strengthened by this 
waiting upon our Father and Eedcemer." 

The Congressional prayer -meeting thus modestly 
referred to was, it is believed, originated by Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen. Certainly he was its most efiicient sup- 
porter during his senatorial term. To him, and the 
late Governor Briggs, of Massachusetts, and others of 



158 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

the like stamp, it was a great source of comfort and 
strength ; nor may we doubt tliat prayers were offer- 
ed there, the answers to which brought down blessing? 
upon the nation. 

Congressional life is known to be very unfriendly 
to the maintenance of a pure and spiritual Christian 
character. Men are, for a large portion of the year, re- 
moved from their homes and the healthful associations 
which cluster there. They are embarked upon a sea 
of excitement roused by purely temporal interests. 
As members of a political party, they are brought into 
frequent and sometimes close contact with persons 
who, however eminent for other attainments, have no 
religious character. They are often solicited to engage 
in pursuits and amusements which they know to be 
inconsistent with a good conscience. At other times 
they encounter flings at piety and scofling insinuations 
which it is extremely hard to bear. Besides, their very 
devotion to what they deem to be the true interests of 
their country leads to a stress of thought and feeling 
upon worldly things which is apt to become absorb- 
ing. Thus there is a.variety of influences concurring 
from all quarters to lower the tone of the Christian's 
piety, to undermine his religious habits, to lead him 
away from communion with God, and to bring him 
down to the level of mere worldly men. It is one of 
the peculiarities of Mr. Frelinghuysen's life at Wash- 
ington that he was enabled to resist these influences 
steadily to the end. He knew his danger, as is evident 
from the allusion to "peculiar trials" in the letter to 
his brother, and from other testimonies, and he set a 
double watch upon himself Without secluding him- 






HIS RELIGIOUS LIFE. 159 

self from society, or neglecting any public duty, lie 
yet walked unhurt through all the pollution and cor- 
ruption of the capital. lie guarded against the begin- 
mncrs of evil. He was more inflexible than ever in 
his habits of devotion. He was diUgent and regular 
in using the ordinances of worship, whether public or 
social. While he never paraded, he never cloaked his 
Christian profession. The lustre of his example seems 
never to have been tarnished in a single instance. 
He left AYashington the same man that he entered it, 
or, if altered, only in so far as his faith was ripened by 
experience, and his holy living confirmed and strength- 
ened by trial. 

The manifestations of his piety in connection with 
the Church were very decided and uniform. For for- 
ty-five years he was a professed follower of the Sav- 
ior, and for the greater part of that time held the of- 
ficial station of ruliug elder. His example in both 
these relations was irreproachable. He was a devout 
and regular attendant upon the means of grace, both 
on the Lord's day and during the week. He went to 
the assemblies of God's people, not as a matter of form, 
nor for intellectual entertainment, nor yet as a mere 
discharge of duty, but hungering and thirsting after 
righteousness. He could appreciate pulpit abiht}^ ; he 
admired eloquence, logical force, originality, research, 
power of illustration, freshness of statement in his min- 
isters ; yet his great desire was habitually to hear the 
simple truth, to be built up and stimulated in the Di- 
vine life. No pastor ever had a more intelligent, at- 
tentive, and sympathetic hearer. He came to be fed 
with the pure milk of the Word, and, so long as this 



160 LIFE OF FKELINGHUYSEN. 

was given without dilution and without affectation, he 
was satisfied. 

Owing to his own changes of residence and other 
circumstances, he became the parishioner of many cler- 
gymen in succession, with all of whom he maintained 
the most friendly personal relations. He was stifdious 
of their comfort, their reputation, and their sensibili- 
ties, delighting to serve them in any way and at any 
time, yet careful never to obtrude, to embarrass, or to 
oppress by the appearance of condescension. Among 
his earlier pastors (from 1822 to 1833) was the Eev. 
Dr. Hay, with whom he preserved a very close and af- 
fectionate intimacy down to the last month of the year 
1860, when death sundered the tie for this world. Of 
his later pastors, the one to whom he was most attach- 
ed, and whose ministrations he most enjoyed, was the 
Eev. Dr. De Witt, senior minister of the Collegiate 
Church, New York. Yet this, perhaps, was owing, 
not so much to the rare gifts and natural eloquence 
of his friend, as to the fine simplicity of his character, 
the evangelical richness and fervor of his discourses, 
and their luminous illustrations of all phases of Chris- 
tian experience. The same feeling was cherished by 
his elder brother, John, in an equal degree, down to 
the day of his death. 

He took particular pleasure in social meetings for 
worship on the evening of secular daj^s. They form- 
ed a pleasant interruption to the constant stream of 
secular engagements, and he found them of great use 
in fanning and preserving the flame of his own devo- 
tion. He was accustomed to lead the devotions of 
others, and never without impressing all present with 



HIS KELIGIOUS LIFE. 161 

liis humility, and reverence, and faith, and fervor. 
There was a plaintiveness in his tones, and a subdued 
earnestness in his manner, which rarely failed to bear 
all hearts along with his own up to the very presence 
of the mercy-seat. Not unfrequently he would use 
his gifts in offering remarks in the course of the meet- 
ing, and always to edification. He spoke because he 
had something to say, and he said it with simplicity 
and directness. 

As a Church of6.cer he rendered excellent service. 
His native shrewdness, insight, and practical wisdom 
here co-operated with his single-hearted devotion to 
the Master to render him invaluable in the councils 
of the Church. There were two functions of the eld- 
er's office in which he was very happy and useful. 
One was visiting the sick and sorrowing. His own 
delicate sensibility enabled him to enter into the feel- 
ings of God's afBlicted children, and he delighted to 
render to them the proper ofS.ces of fraternal Christian 
sympathy. The other was watching for peace. He 
was quick to perceive alienations and difl&culties which 
threatened to mar the harmony of the Church, and 
was wise to meet them (to use the Kev. Mr. E. Cheev- 
er's words) " as no other man could," so as not only to 
remove the trouble, but even promote Christian affec- 
tion between the parties. The blessing pronounced 
upon the peace-makers fell richly upon his head. 

But he was a man of action as well as counsel, and 
engaged with energy and perseverance in every good 
work. From the first he took great interest in the in- 
struction of the young. During the whole time he 
was connected with the Second Church in Newark, he 



162 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

was superintendent of tlie Sunday-school attached to 
it. When he was in Washington, he regularly taught 
a class every Lord's day, and frequently made the as- 
sertion that he deemed this employment more truly 
honorable than the high official position he held in 
the Congress of the nation. After coming to Kew 
York in 1839 to reside, he resumed the same work, 
and met, in the church where he worshiped, a Bible- 
class of young men, many of whom attribute their 
deepest and most abiding impressions to his persua- 
sive counsels. Along with this, he, especially in the 
latter period of his life, performed much work in de- 
livering addresses before the schools of other church- 
es, or at anniversary meetings. At a time when no 
other motive than the desire of doing good could have 
actuated him, he made considerable sacrifices of time 
and ease, in order in this way to cheer those who were 
engaged in this important form of Christian benefi- 
cence. The audience might be gathered in a rural 
church or a retired grove, or in the suburbs of a city, 
but he was equally williDg there or any where else to 
do what he could for the welfare of the young ; and it 
could be said of him as it was of his Master, that the 
common people heard him gladly. His shining con- 
sistency of character, added to his former profession- 
al and political distinction, gave to all that he said a 
weight and power not easy of estimation ; and, al- 
though not a parent himself, his life-long experience 
in the Sunday-school, and his rooted convictions of 
the indispensable importance of the moral training 
of the youth to the stability of our free institu- 
tions, as well as to the solid growth of the Church, 



HIS RELIGIOUS LIFE. 163 

enabled bim to speak witli a peculiar fervor and nnc- 
tion. 

But while tlius interested for tlie spiritual wants of 
others, he was not less concerned for their temporal 
welfare. His hand was open as the day to melting 
charity. In the midst of the most exhausting period 
of his practice as a lawyer, it was his habit to spend ev- 
ery Saturday afternoon in searching out the poor and 
afilicted, and in ministering by sympathy as well as by 
pecuniary aid to their necessities, while in general he 
spared neither time nor means to relieve such children 
of sorrow as made their situation known to him. To 
the ordinary charities of the times which are adminis- 
tered by formal associations he was a regular and lib- 
eral contributor. An amusing instance of this is re- 
lated by some who knew him well. He once heard a 
discourse upon systematic beneficence, the object of 
which was to enforce upon all Christians the duty of 
habitually giving to the Lord at least one tenth of 
their income, and, being very much impressed with the 
argument, determined to put the rule in practice. He 
had not gone far, however, before he found that this 
would require him greatly to abridge his usual chari- 
ties, for these had far exceeded the tithe of his emol- 
uments. Indeed, one who knew him well said that 
they amounted probably to the half of his income. 
" A lone time since he remarked that, in view of the 
various calls of the Church, ' Christians might well 
fear to be rich.' He denied himself many things which 
other Christians of less means allow themselves, and 
he did so that he might have to give unto others. 
"When one spoke to him upon the subject of increas- 



161 LIFE OF FRELINGHUySEN. 

ing his comforts, he replied that it could only be done 
by increasing the necessities of others, and that he 
dared not do." — Dr. Campbell's Funeral Sermo7i. 

His professional labors brought him a very large 
compensation. These gains were neither hoarded nor 
squandered, but lent to the Lord in a wise and liberal 
charity. It is related that, when he was a candidate 
for the Yice-presidency, a warm-hearted Christian wom- 
an said to a member of the Convention which nomi- 
nated him, "Ah! sir, you have indeed done a good 
act in striving to elevate that man ; he has been ' eyes 
to the blind and feet to the lame.' " His townsmen in 
Newark could justly pursue the quotation, and say, 
" When the ear heard him, then it blessed him ; and 
when the eye saw him, it gave witness to him : be- 
cause he remembered the poor that cried, and the fa- 
therless, and him that had none to help him. The 
blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon 
him, and he caused the widow's heart to sing for joy." 
ISTot only did Mr. Frelinghuysen contribute regularly 
to public charities and to the poor in his neighbor- 
hood, but he also took pleasure in ministering to the 
comfort of many whose only claim upon him was very 
remote ; and he did this in such a quiet and delicate 
way that the fact was rather inferred than known, 
even by the inmates of his household. Into what ob- 
scure channels his constant readiness "to do good and 
communicate" overflowed, only the great day will de- 
clare. 

Catholicity of spirit was an eminent feature of Mr. 
Frelinghuysen's religious life. He loved all Chris- 
tians who hold the Head, and was ready to manifest 



HIS EELIGIOUS LIFE. 165 

this fraternal affection at all times and under all cir- 
cumstances. I have said "all who hold the Head," 
for this was a discrimination made by himself. He 
clung to the divinity of his Lord and Savior as a car- 
dinal point, and he could not and did not recognize as 
brethren in faith and hope any who degraded the Ee- 
deemer into a mere creature, and repudiated His aton- 
ing blood. Such an error he regarded as vital, and 
he would never give place, no, not for an hour, to any 
who held the ruinous delusion. But within this ra- 
tional and necessary limit his recognition of all be- 
lievers was most hearty and general, and, as it were, 
spontaneous. His liberality was not the fruit of in- 
difference, or ignorance, or indiscretion, but of an in- 
telligent Christian spirit, which could overlook minor 
differences in a common love for all who are in Christ 
Jesus. He cherished a warm attachment for the an- 
cestral Church in the communion of which he began 
and closed his days. This was the result not only of 
hereditary associations peculiarly strong and affecting, 
but also of a discriminating appreciation of her doc- 
trine, and order, and discipline, and sj^irit. Hence, 
although he was first admitted to the Lord's Table in 
a Presbyterian Church, and continued long and hap- 
pily in that connection, yet, as soon as Providence 
opened the way, he returned with alacrity and joy to 
the Church of his fathers. Hence, too, when, but a 
few years before his death, that Church felt itself call- 
ed upon to carry on the work of Foreign Missions in- 
dependently through a Board of its own appointment, 
and summoned him to preside over the Board, he 
promptly, although with no little pain, severed the 



166 LIFE OF FRELINGHUySEN". 

ties whicTi had long and pleasantly bound him to the 
American Board, and obeyed the summons. 

Yet his love for his own branch of the one great 
family, while it was fervent and settled, resting alike 
upon the convictions of his understanding and the im- 
pulses of his heart, never degenerated into narrowness 
or bigotry. His expansive affection took in the whole 
Church of the redeemed. Their interests were dear 
to his heart. He rejoiced in their joy, and sorrowed 
in their sadness. He was ever ready to aid their en- 
terprises by his counsel, and purse, and public address- 
es. He never paraded this catholicity of feeling. The 
reports of his numberless addresses before various be- 
nevolent associations furnish no instances of ostenta- 
tious assertion of superiority to denominational pref- 
erences or interests. Prodesse quam conspici marked 
him here as elsewhere. That absorbing devotion to 
Christ, which made him feel the whole world of Chris- 
tians to be of kin to him, was shown in deed rather 
than in word. It was no grace cultivated with spe- 
cial pains for an occasion, but an unconscious, unstud- 
ied, instinctive efflorescence of that living principle 
which, like Elizabeth's babe in the presence of the 
mother of her Lord, leaps at once to acknowledge 
Christ's image wherever it is found., and hail His serv- 
ants whatever livery they bear. 

Hence the universal and spontaneous recognition of 
this feature of Mr. Freliughu3^sen's character through- 
out the entire Christian community in this country. 
Believers of every name claimed a common property 
in him as a living representative of the whole body. 
His public and private worth, his eminent services, 



HIS RELIGIOUS LIFE. 167 

his steadfast and stainless consistency, his infinite re- 
move from any petty denominational selfishness or ex- 
clusiveness, took him out of the category of local or 
denominational luminaries, and gave him a national 
and catholic position in the view of all the evangelical 
churches of America. Hence he was for years called 
to stand at the head of not only one, but several of the 
great national societies instituted for the promotion of 
rehgious and benevolent interests in this broad land 
and among the nations of the earth. Kor was the 
confidence thus reposed in him ever found to be mis- 
placed. His administration of the trusts confided to 
him was such in every case as successfully to chal- 
lenge criticism. Perhaps no layman has ever lived 
to whom all classes of believers would so readily and 
cordially point as a fitting representative to all the 
world of the best features and highest type of Amer- 
ican Christianity. 



168 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 



CHAPTER X. 

PERSONAL EFFORTS FOR THE SALVATION OF MEN. 

Letter to Mr. Lincoln. — Consultation about entering the Ministry. — 
Dr. Spring's Letter. — Assiduity and Skill in speaking to impenitent 
Persons. — Grounds of his Success. — Letters. — Correspondence with 
Mr. Clay ; with Mr.Webster ; GoA'ernor Pennington ; Judge Nevi- 
us, — Letter of Judge Chambers. — Other Examples. — Words of J. 
P. Jackson. — Perseverance. 

In the year 1853, tlie Eev. Dr. "Wayland, of Provi- 
dence, delivered a discourse in Rochester entitled The 
Ajiostolic Ministry^ whicli excited much attention at 
the time, and was afterward widely circulated through 
the press. It was founded upon the text. Go ye into 
all the world^ and preach the Gosj^el to every creature ; 
and the preacher undertook to show, 1. What the Gos- 
pel is ; 2. What is meant by preaching it ; and, 8. Who 
are to preach it. Three fourths of the sermon are oc- 
cupied in discussing the last point, in which the duty 
and responsibility of laymen in proclaiming the Gos- 
pel message are stated with great force and pungency. 
The Hon. Heman Lincoln, of Boston, sent a copy of 
this address to Mr. Frelinghuysen, and received from 
him the following reply : 

"New Brunswick, January 8th, 1855. 

'' My DEAR SiE, — I duly received your kind note 
and Dr. Wayland's excellent thoughts on the Apostol- 
ic Ministry. I have read this address with special in- 
terest, and I hope much profit. Like all that I have 
seen from his pen, it is sound, judicious, and of high 



I 



HIS EFFORTS TO SAVE SOULS. 169 

moral excellence. I can not but think that his opin- 
ions on the duty of others besides ' ministers' preach- 
ing will yet become a prevailing sentiment in all our 
churches. How else shall the work of saving men 
prosper, as prophecy leads us to believe it will? I 
have often noted the case of the man possessed, whom 
our Savior restored to his right mind. His desire was 
to remain with his blessed Benefactor ; but the Lord 
sent him home to tell how great things God had done 
unto him. 'And he went his way, and published 
throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had 
done unto him.' Now he was a preacher, and an ef- 
fective one too, for the people marveled at his words. 
And the woman of Samaria, who left the Savior at the 
well and went into the city to report of the wonderful 
Being who had led her to a better knowledge of her 
own heart and life, preached also to good purpose. I 
suppose, my dear sir, that while, for the more solemn 
duties of the sanctuary and its worship, and for the 
governance and order of Christ's Church, the ministers 
are to ' be called' and set apart, yet for exhortation, 
and prayer, and witnessing for the truth, and warning 
sinners, and encouraging the trembling believer, we 
are all to labor for Christ, and have a heart and a 
tongue for His blessed service. 

" I trust, my kind friend, that, through God's good- 
ness, we may again be permitted to meet at the Amer- 
ican Bible House — a precious spot, where denomina- 
tional names only draw brethren more closely togeth- 
er in the sweet bonds of love and unity. 

" Very truly yours in the best relations, 

"Theo. Frelinghuysen. 

"The Hon. H.Lincoln." 

This letter states the opinion of its author in 1855, 
but it was not then formed for the first time. It had 
been held and acted upon for scores of years. From 
an early period he seems to have felt both the obliga- 

K 



170 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN". 

tion and tlie desire " to labor for Christ" in every suit- 
able way. Indeed, this led him at various times to 
canvass with great earnestness the question whether 
it was not his duty to forsake the bar and enter upon 
the ministry of the Gospel. His mind was long and 
seriously exercised upon the subject, and he often 
consulted the Christian friends in whom he had confi- 
dence as to the path of his duty. It is believed that 
the major portion of these concurred in the views pre- 
sented by the Rev. Dr. Spring in the following letter. 
At all events, the practical issue was in accordance 
with the suggestions here presented : 

"New York, 17th Nov., 1835. 

" My dear Sir, * * * I am not a little embar- 
rassed by the inquiry you propose respecting leaving 
the bar. Not a little must depend upon your own 
state of mind. The great question is, How shall I as- 
certain the will of God in this matter ? Your age is 
not against the contemplated change. You may la- 
bor, if God spare you and give you health, twenty 
years in the best of causes. Your present influence 
and standing at the bar and in civil life are against the 
change. Influence and character are plants of slow 
growth : sometimes they are so local and professional 
that they can not be successfully transplanted. You 
will find it a very different thing to plead the cause 
of a despised Savior before an opposing world, where 
every thing is unexcited and like adamant, from en- 
gaging in a cause between man and man, where every 
thing is excitable, every thing novel, and every thing 
exists to cherish your own sensibilities. Multitudes 
of men now in the ministry, who are not above medi- 
ocrity in the uniform routine of parochial labor, would 
be men of distinction under the excitements of a le- 
gal or parliamentary profession. I have my doubts 
whether you can do as much for the cause of the bless- 



HIS EFFORTS TO SAVE SOULS. 171 

ed Eedeemer in the ministry of reconciliation as you 
can now do in your present and kindred relations. 
And yet I say this with great diffidence. I need not 
tell you that if you ' lack wisdom' to decide in this 
matter, there is a weighty promise on record to guide 
you. I left the bar because I got sick of it ; I could 
not be happy in it ; I panted for a better work. And 
yet mere impulse should not, and I am persuaded will 
not, guide you. Our Master needs laborers in Church 
and State. Such is the feeling and such are the insti- 
tutions of this country that ministers of the Gospel 
can get very little influence on the state, and therefore 
there is the more need for men who are qualified and 
have the spirit of ministers to retain their political in- 
fluence. 

"If you have made uj) your mind to leave the bar 
and the varied scenes of public life, the pulpit is the 
place for you, and not an agency for any society. For- 
give my haste, and believe me, 

" Your affectionate friend, G. Spring." 

Satisfied by these and similar considerations that it 
was not his duty to seek ordination, Mr. Freliiighuy- 
sen was none the less active in such ways as lay open 
to him in advancing the Savior's kingdom. And his 
success was such as to show that his decision was 
right, and that there would have been a loss rather 
than a gain in his entering the clerical profession. 
The very fact that he was a layman gave additional 
power to the appeals which he was accustomed to 
make to his fellow-men on religious subjects. 

The admirable combination of zeal and discretion 
which marked his conduct in other matters also man- 
ifested itself in the manner in which he discharged 
the difficult and delicate duty of dealing personally 
with individuals in relation to their eternal interests. 



172 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEN. 

Some believers, tlirougli timidity, reserve, unconquer- 
able diffidence, coldness of tem^Dcrament, or the im- 
perfection of their faith, rarely or never open their 
mouths to warn the sinner or encourage the trembling 
disciple. They turn the whole work over to the min- 
istry, and act as if they supposed that example were 
the only means they were to use for the extension of 
Christ's kingdom. Others, who are more intelligent 
and more conscientious than these, often fail by a lack 
of practical wisdom in adapting their efforts to persons 
and circumstances. They speak at the wrong time, 
or in an unbecoming spirit, or in an unfavorable situ- 
ation ; and the effort, however well intended, leads to 
no good result, if it does not do positive harm. 

Mr. Frelinghuysen avoided both evils. He labor- 
ed, and his labor was skillfully directed. His course 
continually exemplified the Scrijoture maxim, " He 
that winneth souls is loiseJ'' He sowed beside all wa- 
ters, but the seeding was adjusted to the soil. He ad- 
dressed persons at the top and also at the bottom of 
the social scale, but in each case with a divine discre- 
tion which insured attention or at least precluded of- 
fense. None were so high, none so low as to be be- 
yond the reach of his affectionate Christian sympathy. 
He would speak to the old and to the young, to his 
kinsmen and to servants, to the poor and to the rich, 
to ordinary citizens and to those who were distinguish- 
ed by high social or official position. In doing this 
he was aided by several advantages, partly natural, 
partly gracious in their origin. Of the former class 
were his hereditary courage, a quality which shines 
out in all his ancestors, and which rendered him quite 



HIS EFFORTS TO SAVE SOULS. 173 

insensible to the fear of man, and his shrewd insight 
into human character, which enabled him accurately 
to measure every one with whom he came in contact, 
and learn the best way of approach. To the latter 
class belong his eminently consistent life, which fore- 
stalled the retort, " Physician, heal thyself;" his un- 
feigned humility, which prevented his speech from of- 
fending the pride of those whom he addressed ; and, 
above all, his habitual fervor of piety, which enabled 
him to speak out of a full heart — not from a cold sense 
of duty, but from the irresistible impulse of one to 
whom eternal realities were always near. Among all 
the vast variety of persons whom he addressed on the 
subject of personal religion, not one is known ever to 
have taken offense; while, on the contrary, persons 
at opposite points of the social scale have united in 
saying that they would cheerfully bear from him what 
they would not bear from any one else. It was not 
necessary for him to wait for favored moments, or de- 
pend upon some extraordinary contingency. So close 
was his ordinary walk with God, so constant his sense 
of the Savior's presence and love, that he was always 
in the mood to talk naturally and without constraint 
of spiritual things. When retired to the country for 
recreation in the summer, he could drop a good word 
to the domestics of the house ; and when walking at 
the funeral of some dignitary, he could call the atten- 
tion of his companion in the procession to the claims 
of the merciful Eedeemcr. All times and places, all 
ages and sexes were alike to him in this respect. He 
had the heart to bear witness for Christ, and by God's 
grace he found the way. If any class of persons, by 



174 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

their situation in life, their social, professional, or po- 
litical connections, were removed beyond the range of 
the nsual means of bringing the truth to bear upon 
the conscience, he seemed to feel himself the more im- 
pelled to use the advantage of his social position to 
press the Savior's claims personally upon such. Some- 
times, of course, he was heard with ill-concealed impa- 
tience ; but at others his words fell as the dew of Her- 
mon on the mountains of Zion, where the Lord com- 
manded the blessing even life forevermore. And 
there are not a few public men, lawyers and states- 
men, who will be found in the great day to have been 
led to Christ by Theodore Frelinghuysen. 

When personal approach was not to be had, he re- 
sorted to the pen, and wrote to those in whom he felt 
interest. But few of his numerous letters of this char- 
acter have been recovered; but those which are ex- 
tant, though for the most part brief, are marked with 
great fidelity, propriety, and a pleading tenderness 
which it must have been hard to resist. But he did 
not confine himself to such set epistles, but in almost 
every letter, no matter what the subject, contrived to 
insinuate or express something about the great con- 
cern. 

The full details of his activity in this form of doing 
good will never be known, but some instances casual- 
ly revealed will indicate the wide extent of his sym- 
pathies and the great variety of classes to whom he 
performed the office of a faithful Christian friend. 

Among the most prominent of the public men for 
whose spiritual welfare Mr. Frelinghuysen cherished 
a deep and tender solicitude was Henry Clay. He 



HIS EFFORTS TO SAVE SOULS. 175 

"was attracted by Mr. Clay's large and generous nature, 
he admired his talents, he sympathized with his polit- 
ical views, and he enjoyed for many years a friendly 
intimacy with him. It was natural, therefore, that he 
should long to see him a possessor of like precious 
faith with himself. In his correspondence with him, 
therefore, whatever might be the special occasion or 
topic of a letter, Mr. Frelinghuysen always included a 
reference to the great question of the soul's relation to 
God. 

At the close of the year 1835 Mr. Clay was bereaved 
very suddenly of a favorite daughter. Mr. Freling- 
huysen addressed to him a letter of condolence, the 
tenor of which is easily inferred from the following 
reply, dated Washington, 16th January, 1836, in which, 
after thanking Mr. F. for attending to a commission for 
him, he proceeds : 

" But I thank you, my dear friend, still more for the 
deep interest which you so kindly take in my spirit- 
ual welfare. I should be most happy to have the con- 
fidence and assurance which you feel on that serious 
subject. It is one on which, if I have given no evi- 
dence to the world of its having engaged my anxious 
thoughts, I have long and constantly reflected with the 
greatest solicitude, and I indulge the hope that I shall 
ultimately find the peace which you have attained. 
My late sad affliction has taught me an awful lesson, 
and impressed me with a solemn conviction of the ut- 
ter vanity of all earthly things. If I had been asked 
six weeks ago to point to the two happiest beings that 
I knew, I should have designated my poor daughter 
and her bereaved husband. She is now, perhaps, still 
happier ; but alas ! how wretched is he, and how mis- 
erable am I ! My dear wife derives great support un- 



176 LI^E OF FRELmGHUYSEN. 

der this severe dispensation from her faith and future 
hopes, and I have experienced some consolation from 
the numerous letters of condolence which I have re- 
ceived from good and pious friends. 

''I remain, truly, your friend, H. Clay. 

"Theo. Frelinghuysen, Esq." 

The succeeding letter was written in reference to 
the nomination of Clay and Frelinghuysen by the 
Whig National Convention in May, 1844 : 

T. Frelingliuyse)! to H. Clay. 

"New York, May 11,1844. 

"My dear Sir, — I have been rather impatiently 
waiting for my lame arm to write a few lines to my 
honored friend, that I might express to you the heart- 
felt gratification that I feel at the recent association of 
my humble name with yours — a distinction as honor- 
able as it has been to me surprising. And should the 
result of the fall election confirm the nomination, of 
which there now seems to be very strong indications, 
it will, I assure you, be among my richest political 
privileges to contribute any mite of influence in my 
power to render prosperous and lasting in benefits the 
administration of a patriot whose elevation I have long 
desired. Our names have been brought together here 
by the voice of our fellow-men. My prayer for you 
and my own soul shall be fervent that, through the 
rich grace of our Savior, they may be found written in 
the Book of Life of the Lamb that was slain for our 
sins. 

" My good wife, who has never ceased to cherish the 
hope of your eventual elevation to the chief magis- 
tracy, unites with me in kindest respects to Mrs. Clay 
and yourself 

'' P.S. — My hand is still lame, and I can write only 
in irregular characters." 



HIS EFFOETS TO SAVE SOULS. 177 

The following was written wlien the defeat of the 
Whigs was ascertained : 

Theodore Frelingliuysen to Mi\ Clay. 

"New York, Nov. 9th, 1844. 

" My dear Sir, — I address you this morning with 
very different feelings from my expectations a few 
months ago. The alliance of the foreign votes and 
that most impracticable of all organizations, the Abo- 
litionists, have defeated the strongest national vote 
ever given to a presidential candidate. The Whigs in 
this city and state have struggled most nobly. All 
classes of American citizens have ardently, cordially, 
and with the freest sacrifices contended for your just 
claims to patriotic confidence; and could you this 
morning behold the depression of spirits and sinking 
of hearts that pervade the community, I am sure that 
you would feel, ' Well, in very truth, my defeat has 
been the occasion of a more precious tribute and vin- 
dication than even the majority of numbers.' 

" The Abolitionists were inimically obstinate, and 
seemed resolved to distinguish their importance, right 
or wrong. The combination of adverse circumstances 
has often struck me in the progress of the canvass. 
At the South I was denounced as an Abolitionist, 
rank and uncompromising. Here, the Abolitionists 
have been rancorous in their hostility. A short time 
since, William Jay (of illustrious name) assailed me in 
his anti-slavery prints by a harsh, unchristian article 
in the form of a letter addressed to me, but sent to the 
winds. Its object was, no doubt, to drive the party, 
and it had, I suppose, some influence that way, al- 
though it was too bitter and irrational to accomplish 
much. And then the foreie^n vote was tremendous. 
More than three thousand, it is confidently said, have 
been naturalized in this city alone since the first of 
October. It is an alarming fact that this foreign vote 

n2 



178 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSENT. 

has decided tlie great questions of American policy 
and counteracted a nation's gratitude. 

"But, my dear sir, leaving this painful subject, let 
us look away to brighter and better prospects and 
surer hopes in the promises and consolations of the 
Gospel of our Savior. As sinners who have rebelled 
against our Maker, we need a Savior or we must per- 
ish, and this Eedeemer has been provided for us. 
Prophecy declared Him from the earliest period of 
our fall in Paradise, and the Gospel makes known the 
faithful fulfillment. ' Come unto me,' cries this exalt- 
ed Savior, ' come unto me, all ye that are weary and 
heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' Let us then 
repair to Him. He will never fail us in the hour of 
peril and trial. Vain is the help of man, and frail and 
fatal all trust in the arm of flesh ; but h^ that trusteth 
in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion itself, that can nev- 
er be removed. I pray, my honored friend, that your 
heart may seek this blessed refuge, stable as the ever- 
lasting hills, and let this be the occasion to prompt an 
earnest, prayerful, and the Lord grant it may be a joy- 
ful search after truth as it is in Christ Jesus. 

"With affectionate regards to Mrs. Clay, in which 
my good wife, sorely tried, heartily unites, I remain, 
with sincere esteem and best wishes, your friend." 

To this letter Mr. Clay sent the following reply, 
showing the spirit in which he met his defeat, the way 
he accounted for it, and the cordiality with which he 
entertained Mr. Frelinghuysen's religious suggestions : 

Mr. Clay to Mr. Frelinghiiysen. 

"Ashland, 2d December, 1844. 

" My dear Sir, — I duly received your friendly let- 
ter of the 9th November. I fully share in the feel- 
ings under the influence of which it was written. The 
most unexpected result of the Presidential election has 



HIS EFFORTS TO SAVE SOULS. 179 

caused many patriotic hearts to bleed, and has greatly 
affected my own. Although I will not deny that I 
feel the shock of the sad event on my own account, it 
is far more to be deplored for our country and our 
friends. I had indulged the hope that I might be an 
humble instrument in the hands of Providence to en- 
deavor to bring back our government to its former 
purity, and to contribute toward rendering justice to a 
large body of virtuous, able, and patriotic friends who 
have been cruelly persecuted and proscribed. That 
hope is now fled forever. 

" The issue of the contest has been brought about 
by the most extraordinary combination of circum- 
stances. If nativism had not sprung up, or if it had 
been more faithful to its own principles ; or if the for- 
eign vote had not been united against us ; or if the 
Catholics had been more divided ; or if the Abolition- 
ists had been true to their own avowed principles ; or 
if there had been no frauds, the triumph of the Whigs 
would have been secured. It required a union of all 
these discordant elements to defeat them, and, unfor- 
tunately, the union existed. 

" It is highly gratifying to me to learn from you 
that the Whigs of the city and State of New York 
struggled nobly. The same praise is due to them, 
generally, throughout the Union. 

"We have other consolations. Neither 3^ou nor I 
have done any thing to bring upon ourselves self-re- 
proaches during the canvass, and both of us, by its re- 
sult, have been saved a great responsibility. Let us 
also cherish the fond hope that the evils to our coun- 
try, which we so much apprehend from the new ad- 
ministration, may not be realized. 

" You have, my dear friend, however, kindly sug- 
gested the truest of all consolations in the resources 
of our holy religion. I have long been persuaded of 
that solemn truth ; nor have I been entirely neglect- 
ful of exertions to secure to myself its benefit. I wish 



180 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

I could add that I feel entire confidence tliat these ex- 
ertions had been crowned with success. But they 
shall not be intermitted ; and I trust that, by diligent 
searching, I shall yet find, in faith in our Lord Jesus, 
that solace which no earthly honors or possessions can 
give. 

"Mrs. Clay unites with me in reciprocating affec- 
tionate regards to Mrs.F., and I remain ever faithfully 
and truly your friend, H. Clay. 

*' Theo. Frelinghuysen, Esq." 

In the year 1846, Mr. Clay, in answer to a letter 
from Mr. Frelinghuysen speaking of his continued ill 
health, wrote to him, under date of October 9, from 
Ashland, recommending a certain course of treatment 
which had been beneficial to himself in 1828, when al- 
most broken down by his labors as Secretary of State. 
After speaking on this point very minutely, the writer 
proceeds : 

"I am greatly obliged, my dear friend, by the kind 
interest you take in my spiritual welfare. I feel much 
more comfortable than I ever did on that subject. I 
hope and believe that I have improved in my relig- 
ious feelings and in tl^ performance of my religious 
duties. I attend the Episcopal Church regularly and 
with satisfaction, but I have not yet become a member 
of it. This I hope to do. I must own, however, with 
regret, that I do not yet feel that absolute confidence 
in my future salvation which some Christians profess 
to have in theirs." 

The last letter of Mr. Frelinghuysen to his old friend 
was written not many months before Mr. Clay's death : 



HIS EFFOETS TO SAVE SOULS. 181 



Theodore Frelinghuysen to Mr. Clay. 

" New Brunswick, January 19, 1852. 

"My dear Sir, — I have heard, with great interest 
and anxiety, of your continued feeble health, and that 
it had been rather more feeble since your decided tes- 
timony in behalf of "Washington's foreign policy. I 
was rejoiced to hear your words of soberness and truth 
on the exciting question of Hungarian politics, and I 
trust that a divine blessing wnll follow your counsels. 
"In this time of impaired health, and sometimes 

/ trying despondency that ensues, it must be refreshing 

to look away to Him who is a helper near in trouble, 

\ and able and willing to sustain and comfort you. This 

blessed Gospel, that reveals the riches of God's grace 
in Jesus Christ, is a wonderful remedy, so suited to our 
condition and character, and so full of inexpressible 

, consolation to us as sinners needing mercy. His blood 

I cleansing us from the guilt of sin. His Spirit purifying 

our hearts, and restoring us to God's ifi^age and favor. 
May you, my dear friend, largely parUke of its com- 
forts, and, leaning all your hopes on the Almighty Sa- 
vior's arm, hold on your way, for life and for death, 
for time and for eternity, in His name and strength." 

In a eulogy which Mr. Frelinghuj'sen pronounced 
y. in Newark, New Jersey, shortly after Mr. Clay's death, 

he concluded by a reference to his religious relations, 
and, after quoting some passages from the letters of his 
friend, remarked that these extracts "show how uni- 
versal is the need of a Gospel hope for the noblest and 
the humblest ; that, however human distinctions exist, 
, and usefully, yet before God there is but one level; 

and also how far more gloriously true greatness beams 
upon us from the foot of the Cross, seeking peace 
through the blood of Ilim who once died upon it for 
our sake." 



182 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

None of Mr. Frelingliuysen's letters to Mr. Webster 
have been recovered, but, from the rephes which he 
received, their tenor can easily be inferred. In the 
year 1840, Mr. Frelinghuysen, being then Chancellor 
of the University, wrote to Mr. Webster in behalf of 
•the literary societies of that institution, requesting him 
to deliver the annual address before them, at the same 
time adding some words -on what he deemed the most 
important of all subjects. The following is the an- 
swer: 

' ' Washington, Feb. 24,1840. 

" My dear Sir, — I can hardly expect to be pardon- 
ed for delaying so long an answer to your first letter, 
and for waiting to be reminded by a second. The 
truth is, my dear sir, your kind letter was interesting, 
and I was hoping for leisure to do something more 
than to make a reply to its particular request. I want- 
ed to say something on the solemn subjects which, in 
so friendly a manner, you introduce ; but I have found 
my time very much engrossed by the concerns of pub- 
lic and professional life, and have also had to suffer 
the inconvenience of a very long-continued cold. 

'' I can not possibly undertake to make an address 
to your societies. For some time I have been com- 
pelled to decline all such requests. The P. B. K. of 
Cambridge have a standing claim upon me, which I 
have put off from year to year, and must put off again. 
I wish heartily it were otherwise, because I should be 
glad to oblige you, but do not flatter myself I could 
speak edifyingly to your societies. For some years I 
have hardly kept up with the literature of the day. 
Eust is coming over my earlier acquisitions, and, if I 
can keep myself a little bright in matters of law and 

politics, while I yet pursue them, it is all I expect. 
-:^ * * -x- * * ^ 

" Yours, D. Webster." 



HIS EFFORTS TO SAVE SOULS. 183 

Eight years afterward Mr. Frelingliujrsen addressed 
a letter of condolence to this distinguished man, then 
suffering under a sore bereavement. He was thus an- 
swered : 

,,-r .1 -T n "March 13th, 1848. 

in the midst of severe affliction, my dear friend,! 
hear your voice tendering condolence and sympathy, 
and uttering admonitions of resignation and submis- 
sion. I feel that nothing else is left, and I pray God 
that I may receive the chastening with a penitent and 
a believing spirit. It is not for me to say whether He 
shall call me or my children first into His presence. 
I know that there we must all shortly appear. I thank 
you, my dear sir, for your affectionate kindness and 
remembrance, and assure you that your health and 
happiness are subjects of my sincere prayers. 

" The sun of our lives is fast going down ; my own, 
especially, is already near the horizon. 1 wish to con- 
sider all things earthly as held by a precarious tie, and 
that by a tie still more precarious I am held to those 
who love me. 

"Mrs. Webster joins me in kind remembrances to 
you and Mrs. Frelinghuysen, and pray you to accept 
our affectionate regards. Daniel Webster. 

*' Mr. Frelinghuysen." 

Mr. Frelinghuysen was for many years intimately 
associated with the Hon. William Pennington, for many 
years Governor and Chancellor of the State of New 
Jersey, and afterward Speaker of the House of Repre- 
sentatives during the troublous times of the Thirty- 
sixth Congress. He was always faithful to the soul 
of his friend, and at last had the pleasure of seeing 
him an avowed andtjonsistent Christian. His agency 
in leading to this result is thus acknowledged by the 
governor in a letter written in April, 1858: 



184 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

u * -K- « jf g^j^y Qj-^Q tHing has impressed me 
more than any other, it is this wonderful mercy that 
we should be permitted to go on in sin, and rebellion, 
and ingratitude for a long life, and yet be permitted 
to share in the blessings which appertain to all who 
are penitent and ask forgiveness at the hands of the 
Mediator. 

" I wish to say to you, as a friend to whom I would 
confide my most secret thoughts, that I do not consid- 
er myself a subject of the present revival any farther 
than it may have led me to consummate a purpose 
long intended. And it is due from me to say that I 
ascribe much of my reverence for divine things, and, 
indeed, my strongest and firmest religious impressions, 
to your advice and example — the living example, that 
is the preacher, after all, with the conscience and the 
intellect. 

"With many hopes and firm resolves, I still am, 
and always expect to be, a trembling, doubting Chris- 
tian. Some people have much enthusiasm, much feel- 
ing and excitement ; with me, I confide in the prom- 
ises, and in the hope that I have made a full and hum- 
ble surrender penitently to the blessed Eedeemer of 
the world. -'^ ^ * 

"I am, ever, your friend, Wm. Pexnington." 

With the Hon. James S. Nevius, long a prominent 
member of the New Jersey bar, and afterward one of 
the justices of the Supreme Court of the state, Mr.Fre- 
linghuysen frequently, during a course of many years, 
held conversations and correspondence, in which he 
acted the part of a faithful Christian friend, and at last 
had the pleasure of seeing him become an avowed dis- 
ciple of the Lord Jesus. One of the last letters writ- 
ten to him before he took this step was couched in 
these words : 



HIS EFFORTS TO SAVE SOULS. 185 

" Dear Sir, — I have duly received and read your 
letters with great interest, and hope that I may give a 
thought, under the guidance of God's blessed Spirit, 
that may be of profit to your own anxious mind. It 
seems to mo, after much reflection on the terms of 
your letter, that the only hinderance in your way is in 
the unwillingness of your heart to give up all its pleas 
and strivings, its regrets at unavailing and unsatisfied 
strivings to be better, and to fiill down a poor, lost, 
wretched sinner at the Savior's feet, and to give Him 
all the glory of your deliverance from the power, pol- 
lution, and guilt of sin. 

" And here you have stood for years, in the inner 
secrets of your heart fighting against God and His 
way of mercy, and wanting to make terms with Him 
— some little spot or speck of merit, no matter how 
small, the very least grain that will save pride, your 
pride, the humiliation of such unconditional submis- 
sion as the Gospel and grace of God requires. If the 
matter could be settled by the most painful investiga- 
tion of reason and philosophy — if it were allowed or 
even required of you to undergo the pains of bodily 
toil and suffering — if the tears you shed, the horrors 
you experience, the darkness, doubts, and conflicts you 
endure — if these, or any of these, might only have 
some place to draw Divine forbearance and make up 
the account to soften a single grain of Divine require- 
ments, how willingly your heart would give in to such 
conditions. Here it is — believe it: there is no obsta- 
cle but in a proud heart that will not bow down all 
the way to dust and ashes before God, and exclaim, 
* Lord ! I surrender. 

" ' A guilty, weak, and helpless worm, 
On Thy kind arms I fall ; 
Be Thou my strength and righteousness, 
My Jesus and my all.' 

" Yes, my friend, you must come and ought to 
come. For ivlio is this gracious Kedeemer ? Kemem- 



186 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

ber that He is God manifest in the flesh. The Lord 
of life and glory for our sakes took upon Him our na- 
ture and suffered for us — died on the cross to atone for 
our violations of His own blessed law ; and now all 
He asks of you is, ' Son, give me thine heart,' and you 
have refused Him this small tribute for years and 
years. He says in His Word, To as many as received 
Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of 
God. You won't receive Him, and then mourn that 
you can't get religion. You never will until you fly 
to the Savior. Submit now, unreservedly, and all 
will be peace. Yours very truly, 

" Theo. Frelinghuysen. 

"The Hon. James S. Nevius." 

The Hon. E. F. Chambers was a member of the 
Senate from Maryland during Mr. Frelinghuysen's 
term of service in that body. In a letter written from 
Chestertown, Maryland, in March, 1854, Judge Cham- 
bers bears this testimony to the character and course 
of his friend : 

" It is truly gratifying to witness the continued kind 
feeling of an old friend, for whom I have never ceased 
to entertain a warm regard ; whose kind, considerate, 
and Christian counsel has been willingly tendered 
when impatience of spirit or intemperance of excited 
feeling would mislead me, and whose amiable and 
disinterested aid was never withheld when needed. 
May you long continue, my friend, to fulfill the office 
you have so well performed — a pattern of the Chris- 
tian graces, and a wise counselor to all who would cul- 
tivate them. * * * 

" It will afford me great pleasure to see you once 
more before one or the other shall be called away; 
but, if not on earth, I humbly trust we may in heaven 
renew our greetings. 

" Yery faithfully and truly yours, 

" E. F. Chambers." 



HIS EFFORTS TO SAVE SOULS. 187 

On one occasion, many years ago, the legal friend 
with whom he usually traveled when going to Tren- 
ton to attend the courts was accompanied by his son, 
then a young man just about to make his appearance 
at the bar of the Supreme Court. The next morning 
Mr. Frelinghuysen invited the youth to join him in an 
early walk. While they were together the subject of 
personal religion was introduced, and urged by one so 
evidently taught by the Holy Spirit that that inter- 
view was a benediction. And when the good man lay 
upon his death-bed, the companion of his walk forty 
years before called at the house, and sent a message 
of thanks acknowledging the life-long benefit derived 
from the conversation then held. It elicited from the 
dying saint the characteristic response, "Give God the 
praise." 

At this early period of his conversion he was often 
tried by temptations to forbear speaking to the world- 
ly upon their spiritual condition. There was one em- 
inent member of the bar for whom he had felt much 
concern, but whom he found it quite a trial to address 
on the matter, and accordingly deferred it from time 
to time. At last, in one of his morning walks, his 
mind became so troubled that he turned his steps 
homeward and at once sought the lawyer, saying, 
" There is a subject of which I have long wanted to 
speak to you, but have been afraid." " Why, Freling- 
huysen, what in the world is there of which you are 
afraid to speak to me ?" " It is of your undying soul, 
and I have acted like a coward about it." "Well, 
Frelinghuysen, you may speak to me on that subject, 
but not those who are inconsistent Christians." 



188 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEN. 

A missionary of the Methodist Church, now labor- 
ing in China, who, when a mere child, had seemed to 
be converted, but afterward wandered very far from 
the true path, traces his recovery and present Chris- 
tian hope to the Divine blessing upon frequent con- 
versations Mr. Frelinghuysen held with him while vis- 
iting in the drug-store where the young man was act- 
ing as clerk. 

Mr. Frelinghuysen seemed never to lose an oppor- 
tunity. His heart was so burdened with concern for 
all out of Christ, that he has been known more than 
once, after passing unconverted persons in the street, 
to be constrained by his own painful emotions to turn 
back and speak with them on the state of their souls. 
Even his students, although so faithfully dealt with in 
his Biblical instructions, and at other times when they 
were addressed as a body, were not neglected in pri- 
vate interviews, but then entreated with even more 
fervor to turn to God and give Him their hearts. 

He was not discouraged by the fact that any whom 
he could address were intemperate, or otherwise very 
far estranged from the right path, but, on the contra- 
ry, seized every occasion to speak to them the fitting 
word ; and, however such persons might object to ap- 
peals and remonstrances coming from others, they al- 
ways listened to Mr. Frelinghuysen at least with out- 
ward attention and respect. His purity and consist- 
ency of character were so eminent and undeniable that 
those who were hardened in impenitence could not 
close their ears to what he said. 

In November, 1859, a state convention of Sabbath- 
school teachers was held at Trenton, New Jersey. Mr. 



HIS EFFOKTS TO SAVE SOULS. 189 

Frelinglinyscn, as president of the body, opened the 
sessions with an earnest and instructive address. 
When he sat down, the late John P. Jaekson, Esq., of 
Newark, followed with these remarks : 

" Mr. President, I came here to listen and to learn ; 
but I am delighted to say, before this great assembly, 
that all my early principles, all the great foundations 
of learnmg which I esteem valuable for time and eter- 
nity, I have derived, sir, as a pupil of yours ; and were 
it not for the opportunity of making this acknowl- 
edgement, I should not have arisen. And it is pre- 
cisely in the mode which you have employed this aft- 
ernoon in your plain and simple address that I have 
received that instruction. ^ -^ ■^- And, sir, I have 
been prompted by your noble example to engage in 
the delightful work of Sabbath - school instruction ; 
and now I come here with you to engage in council 
on its great interests, although some thirty-five years 
have passed since I studied law in your oilSce, and re- 
ceived my early impressions of duty from your exam- 
ple and instructions." 

There were few public men in New Jersey, or in 
Washington, or in New York, with whom Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen was in the habit of meeting, to whom he 
did not at some time or in some way bring the sub- 
ject of personal religion. He was judicious and un- 
obtrusive in his methods of approach, and his delicacy 
of feeling and vivid sense of propriety rendered those 
whom he addressed more willing to open their hearts 
upon a theme of such deep personal interest. He cer- 
tainly often found access where other persons had fiil- 
ed, and there are many still living who could bear a 
decided testimony to his Christian faithfulness. Mr. 
Frelinghuysen rarely spoke of these interviews ; nev- 



190 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

er, indeed, save in circumstauces when a reference to 
them would be not only unobjectionable, but of useful 
tendency. He was quite content to do good in secret, 
and wait for recognition until the resurrection of the 
just. Many, therefore, who have long known his pub- 
lic reputation as a consistent Christian, will be sur- 
prised to learn that, perhaps, no layman in the land 
ever made so many private personal appeals on the 
matter of the soul's salvation as he habitually did dur- 
ing the last forty years of his life. It was not a fitful, 
occasional thing, pursued during some season of re- 
vival and then abandoned, but a fixed habit, followed 
at home and abroad with the undeviating constancy 
of a deep-seated principle. His catholic sympathies 
took in the worth oi all souls as such, and there was 
no human being so low or degraded, so alien or hos- 
tile, that he did not feel for its spiritual welfare, and 
speak the proper word whenever an opportunity ofler- 
ed or could be made to occur.. He was on the watch 
to seize favorable occasions, and his own walk with 
God was so close, and his own experience of divine 
things so rich and satisfying, that it was nothing un- 
natural or constrained for him, on any day of the 
week, or during any season of the year, to invite the 
unthinking and worldly to consider the things which 
belonged to their everlasting peace. 

Hp was not always successful. Some to whom he 
had been faithful during a long term of years, and for 
whom he had prayed with very great fervor and con- 
stancy, at last went down to the grave giving small 
and dubious signs of being prepared for the great 
change. But he was not chilled, much less soured by 



HIS EFFORTS TO SAVE SOULS. 191 

the disappointment. His zeal was destitute of the 
least tincture of fanaticism. His sorrow was not for 
the failure of the means, but for the loss of the end ; 
and the only result was to set him more diligently at 
work to do what he could for the salvation of such as 
remained still within the reach of human efforts. His 
entire life was an exemplification of the sentiment ex- 
pressed in his letter to Mr. Lincoln: "I suppose that 
while, for the more solemn duties of the sanctuary and 
its worship, and for the governance and order of 
Christ's Church, the ministers are to be called and set 
apart, yet for exhortation, and prayer, and witnessing 
for the truth, and warning sinners, and encouraging 
the trembling believer, we are all to labor for Christ, 
and to have a heart and a ton.sjue for His blessed 
service.' 






192 LIFE OF FRELINGHUySEISr. 



CHAPTER XI. 

EXTRACTS FROM HIS CORRESPOKDEXCE. 

Its general Character. — Fifteen Letters to a young Relative pursuing 
his Education. — Two to another j^oung Relative. — Four to the Rev. 
Dr. J. A. H. Cornell. — A Letter of Condolence to the Rev. Dr. De 
Witt. 

In tlie discourse i^ronounced by the Eev. Dr. Camp- 
bell on the occasion of Mr. Frelinghuy sen's death, 
there occurs the following passage: '^ What a volume 
of letters his vast correspondence on behalf of good 
objects would furnish! Letters of condolence with 
those who were in trouble — letters sending pecunia- 
ry aid and kind words to the daughters and widows 
of old associates w^hom the reverses of life had over- 
taken — letters to the sons of old friends, who, prod- 
igal-like, had wandered from the path of rectitude — 
letters in aid of the Bible, Tract, Missionarj-, Coloni- 
zation, and Temperance causes, for all of which he la- 
bored, and gave, and prayed — letters to those upon 
whom he pressed the claims of Christ — what a vol- 
ume of letters it would make ! And I dare affirm 
that he who will read all that vast correspondence of 
the last forty-two years will not find one censorious 
remark, one bitter expression." There is no exagger- 
ation in this statement. Mr. Frelinghuysen's corre- 
spondence was very large, and every letter bore the 
stamp of his own generous, manly. Christian charac- 
ter. In his later years writing became irksome to 



CORRESPONDENCE. 193 

him, and his letters rarely exceeded a single page, but 
what was said answered the purpose. His reluctance 
to write disappeared whenever the prospect of useful- 
ness to the souls of men presented itself, and a full 
heart quivered in every line of innumerable epistles. 
The range of his correspondence was very wide, and 
in no case where the circumstances would at all admit 
of an allusion to the chief concern, did he fail to make 
such allusion. The things of the kingdom held such 
full and habitual possession of his mind that it was 
easy to bring them forward, and his long training and 
social culture enabled him to do it without giving of- 
fense or occasioning an unwelcome surprise. 

The most of his letters are irrecoverably lost or dis- 
persed. Of those which have been recovered, many 
are so interwoven with private details and interests of 
persons yet living as to be unfit for publication. A 
score or more, composed mainly of such as were ad- 
dressed to young friends, are here inserted, as show- 
ing under his own hand, in the most familiar and con- 
fidential utterances of his heart, what manner of man 
he was. 

The following are extracts from a series of letters 
addressed from time to time to a young relative pur- 
suing his studies away from home : 

" My dear , — We received your second letter 

last evening, and regretted to learn that you had en- 
countered so many difficulties in your going to W . 

If I had thought that your way would have been so 
difficult, I should have waited for some friend with 
whom to send you. But I am thankful, my dear child, 
that the Lord has been your friend. He, I trust, has 

I 



194 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

brought you safely to your residence. We miss you 
much from our dear little circle, but your improve- 
ment under the many advantages of the college con- 
soles us. Now is the season for you to lay the foun- 
dation for your future usefulness, and let me entreat 
you to found it well in the fear of the Lord, in dili- 
gence to acquire solid learning, to store ^^our mind 
with the instructions of wisdom. Your Maker claims 

your first, best thoughts. My dear , realize that 

you are a sinner, that 3^ou need a Savior, and that 
whatever else you may gain, if you do not secure an 
interest in the mercy of God through the blood of His 
dear Son, you will be an everlasting victim of His 
wrath. 

"Kead daily the Word of God, and when you read, 
pray over it that the Holy Spirit would open your un- 
derstanding and heart to receive and love it. 

"Be careful of your company. It is a truth writ- 
ten upon the grave of many a ruined youth that ' evil 
communications corrupt good manners.' 

"Discipline yourself to spend half an hour each 
day in examining jomt condition and prospects. Dwell 
on such questions as these : What am I ? Where will 
my present course end ? What am I to do for God, 
who gave me my being, my friends, and my all? 
Could my dear father and mother speak to me from 
the eternal world, what would be their counsels to 
their child ? Oh, my dear child, I feel my soul deep- 
ly anxious for your spiritual welfare. Let us so live 
that we may forever live together in the presence of 
our blessed God and Savior, with all the redeemed. 

* * * -5^ * -5^ -Jf 

"Your affectionate uncle, 

" Theo. Frelinghuysen. 

''Saturday evening, Jan. 3, 1829." 

"Dear , — We received your last letter, and 

are happy to learn of your health and welfare. That 
you should occasionally feel the depressing influence 



CORRESPONDENCE. 195 

of a liomc-sick fever is natural, but yon must take care 
that it does not master you ; and the best remedy 
against it is steady employment for the mind in your 
studies. It is now the season in which you are to fit 

yourself for future usefulness. My dear , I hope 

your aims will be high. I mean not that jon should 
cherish a vain ambition — far from this ; but I mean 
that you should strive after that substantial usefulness 
which a well-educated mind, disciplined by study and 
self-denial, will generally attain. 

" You say nothing of the state of your feelings on 
the most important of all subjects — how' you stand af- 
fected toward your Creator, Preserver, and Benefactor. 
He has claims, my dear child, which can not be disre- 
garded without great danger and guilt ; and I should 
be wanting in faithfulness to your soul not thus affec- 
tionately to warn you that every day you put off re- 
pentance and submission to Christ you run an awful 
hazard of eternal wretchedness. God has given you 
His Word. He has at times brought you to the verge 
of eternity, and made j^ou feel how dreadful it was to 
enter there with a heart unreconciled to Him. JSTow 
be i^ersuaded to defer no longer. Suffer not the pre- 
cious season of youth to pass away, only to furnish 
matter for bitter regrets. May the rich grace of the 
blessed Redeemer be shed down upon your soul, and 
do you earnestly pray for this dail}^. "^ " *^' 

"Very affectionately, T. Frelixghuysen. 

"Newark,Feb. 5, 1829." 

"Dear , — I was much refreshed by your let- 
ter received last evening. I intended to write to you 
from Washington, but my stay there was short and 
hurried, and I arrived at home the evening before your 
letter came, happy to learn of your health and welfare. 

" The scenes at Washington were to me quite novel, 
and, in some measure, interesting ; but, my dear child, 
they all confirmed the dictate of sound reason and re- 
licfious truth that ' man walketh in a vain show.' Tho 



196 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEN. 

strifes of ambition that engage the whole energies of 
many great men are unsatisfying, and more, they are 
perplexing and delusive. An immortal mind can not 
be filled with such vain satisfactions. God has form- 
ed us to enjoy Him, and when our powers are debased 
and perverted to inferior purposes, we do violence to 
the great end of our existence, and only furnish occa- 
sion for disappointment here, and, if left to our per- 
verse choice, to everlasting confusion and wretched- 
ness hereafter. 

" I hope, from your remarks in your letter, that you 
sometimes feel that religion is the one thing needful ; 

and if you realize, my dear , that it is jout own 

unbelief that prevents your enjoying the favor of God, 
I beg you to be concerned at the condition in which 
3^ou stand before Him. He is waiting to be gracious. 
He points you to the blood of His Son as your refuge. 
He calls, invites, and commands you to turn unto Him 
and live — to repent and believe, and be saved, or per- 
ish. Oh, will you resist all this, and go on in rebel- 
lion ? 

"Do 3^ou sometimes anxiously inquire. What shall 
I do? Fall down at the foot of the cross. There 
mourn over this dreadful unbelief. Cry to Him who 
is mighty to save that He would have mercy upon 
you, that He would take away the heart of stone and 
give a heart of flesh. Never raise up any other obsta- 
cle than a hard and perverse heart, and raise this as 
the ground of all your guilt and wretchedness, which, 
if not renewed by sovereign grace, will justly condemn 
you forever. Make it your j^lea for mercy, and not 
your apology for remaining in sin. I pray that the 
Lord will in rich grace lead joiiv soul to Himself. 
Cherish every serious impression ; endeavor to fix 
them upon your heart; remember it is not a light 
thing, but for your life. * * -^ 

"Sincerely and affectionately yours, 

" Theo. Fkelinghuysen. 

"Newark, March 25, 1829." 



CORRESPONDEISrCE. 197 



"Washington, Jan. 27, 1832. 

"Dear , — I am bappy to hear that you are 

af^ain seated at your studies, and hope that no inter- 
ruption will break in upon the diligent pursuit of your 

professional duties. I hope, my dear ■ , that you 

feel the deep importance of a solid education. Lay 
the foundations of usefulness in a thorough knowledge 
of the whole range of medicine. But be not content 
here. Draw from the sources of history and biography, 
the springs of human action. Become familiar with 
the noble specimens of taste and genius in the English 
and Latin classics. Be, my son, an accomplished 
scholar. But I should fail in my duty, as you would 
in yours, if I did not urge, and you yield to it, that 
you should seek first the kingdom of God. My dear 

, let me entreat you to look at this momentous 

subject promptly ; what shall we do when God takes 
away the soul for eternity? Eternity! oh, how full 
of meaning ! How dreadful is that thought to^ a sin- 
ner who must be driven away! Pray over it, and 
may the Lord lead you to himself. 

" Yours very truly." — - 

"Washington, Feb. 27, 1832. 

''Dear , — We duly received your letter on 

Saturday, and are rejoiced to learn the interesting 
state of religion in Mr. H 's church ; and what in- 
creased our interest, and concern also, was to find that 
your mind felt at such a season the comparative un- 
importance of all other mere worldly pursuits. 

"My dear , it is a deeply momentous crisis for 

you. When the Lord comes near to you by His Spir- 
it, and when, as I trust. His motions arc felt upon your 
heart, it makes the hour one of the most solemn on 
this side of eternity. Be persuaded by all the just 
claims which your Maker and Kedeemer has to your 
affection and service— by all that is precious in the 
blood shed for your sins— by all that is valuable m 



198 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

tlie favor of God or terrible in his eternal powers, noio^ 
to-day^ to surrender your heart to Him. Go mourning 
over your sins, over your past ingratitude and rebel- 
lion, and, with the temper of the prodigal, seek the 
reconciled face of your heavenly Father. 

' ' How could the Lord make terms more easy ? That 
He ever held out a hope on any terms is matter of 
wonder with angels ; but that His own blessed Son 
should leave His glory to suffer and die that a way of 
deliverance should be opened for the guilty children 
of rebellious men, this, this is astonishing grace in- 
deed. And shall we, shall you, my dear son, stand 
out against such love, refuse to repent of your sins, 
and reject this Savior? Has your heart ever anx- 
iously inquired. What shall I do ? Go to the throne 
of grace, and plead for mercy and guidance. Cast 
yourself upon God's sovereign pleasure. You can 
take nothing that deserves His favor, but you can take 
a broken heart for sin, and this is all He asks of you. 

I commend you, my dear , to this Infinite Grace, 

and pray for you that your heart may turn from ev- 
ery idle vanity and all other refuges to the stroDg-hold 
as a prisoner of hope. 

" Yery truly and affectionately yours." 



"Nawark, September 10, 1832. 

"Dear , — "We received j^our letter from P- 



and were glad to hear of your safe arrival, and that 
you seemed so far pleased with the situation. I hope 
that you may soon be comfortably lodged, and in good 
earnest improve the facilities offered for your improve- 
ment. It would have been very pleasant to have you 
with us until the time of our returning to Washing- 
ton, but your welfare was of still greater importance 
than the comfort of your society. You must now set- 
tle it in your mind that the present session is to be a 
time of serious business, hard study, and laborious in- 
vestigation. To bo useful in your profession, j^ou 



CORRESPONDENCE. 199 

must enjoy the confidence of tlie public, and nothing 
will secure this but skill, intelligence, and virtue. No 
man ever became eminent in any service but through 
severe and constant industry. Genius, without this, 
is but a shining nothing, to dazzle and blaze a little, 
nd then to pass away with no memorial of solid use- 
fulness. Kemember, my dear child, that all your ad- 
vantages are a trust, to be accounted for to your 
friends, to society, and, above all, to your Maker. 
These confer corresponding obligations. Days and 
months pass rapidly away, but every hour bears a rec- 
ord of our conduct, and, when the brief career of life 
is concluded, everlasting consequences follow in in- 
evitable connection. My dear , you must mxcet 

these consequences. Oh, ponder deeply and prayer- 
fully the solemn truth that you can never escape, 
evade, or repel them. You have entered on the pil- 
grimage for eternity, and must go forward to realize 
its retributions. The blessed God demands as His 
reasonable service your heart with all its affections 
and desires, and do you not feel that you justly owe 
all to Him ? What kindness and mercy has He not 
strewed all along your path ? Who provided for you 
all the blessings which so richly crown your life ? Oft- 
en, when disease has invaded and threatened to cut 
you down, who was it that rebuked the sickness, and 
healed, and bade you live ? And what docs the Lord 
require of you but that you repent of all your sins, 
and receive and rejoice in His dear Son ? Be per- 
suaded to bow before His throne of mercy, and render 
up your powers to the service of your generous and 
unwearied Benefactor. Then you will have a sure 
refuge in every season of trial, and a resting-place from 
a world of anxiety and trouble. 

" May you enjoy the best of your heavenly Father's 
blessings, share in His love, and be kept by His Spirit. 
" Yours very truly." 



200 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEN". 



"Newark, September 6, 1833. 

"My dear , — As I know that you will feel a 

little of tlie low spirits wliich occasionally come over 
lis when separated from those who are dear to ns, I 
concluded to drop you a few lines. I deeply feel the 
trial of parting from you, and am only reconciled to it 
by the persuasion that your welfare will be promoted 
by the change in your plans. It is an anxious pur- 
pose with us to have you qualified for solid usefulness 
in your profession, and we should forego the sincere 
pleasure of your society for the attainment of this im- 
portant object. 

" These separations, my dear son, are of merciful or- 
dainment, with all their pains. They are designed to 
lead our souls up to the blessed God, the only satisf}^- 
ing portion ; all below is transitory and vain. His fa- 
vor is life eternal. By our sins we have forfeited this 
rich blessing ; and yet He offers us restoration, on 
terms glorious to His mercy. He speaks to, nay, 
He pleads with you, ' My son, give me thine heart.' 
Come with ingenuous sorrow for sin, believe in the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and all will be well, your sins for- 
given, and your precious soul accepted. 

"I hope we shall often hear from you, and I com- 
mend you, my dear , to the grace and favor of a 

kind and gracious Father. 

" Very sincerely and affectionately yours." 

"Newark, October 28, 1833. 

" Dear , — I received your acceptable letter on 

my return from Bergen Court on Friday evening last. 
It gave me sincere and great pleasure to learn of your 
welfare, and that your studies had become so agreea- 
ble to your taste. I hope, my dear son, that 3^ou will 
not relax j^our industrious exertions to master your 
useful profession in all its branches. It is knowledge 
here, as in all science, that will found safely and sure- 
ly successful enterprise. Do not take a zest in the 



COERESPOKDENCE. 201 

mere physical branches. Eemember that the laws and 
operations of the mind are intimately connected with 
your profession, and this opens a wide and deeply in- 
teresting range for study and reflection. And, above 
all, my dear , remember with prayerful convic- 
tion that it is a mind in ruins, a spirit that has de- 
stroyed its moral beauty by rebellion against its bless- 
ed and glorious Author. Here I rejoice to know that 
your Bible is of daily perusal. Search its divine pages 
as for your life. Pray to be guided to the only Phy- 
sician for this dreadful malady, even to the Lord Je- 
sus Christ, who came into the world to save sinners. 

u ^ -X- ^ J wish the best blessings of Heaven 
on your plans in prospect, and hope they may realize 
your hopes. 

"Very truly and affectionately yours." 

"Washington, Feb. 18, 1834. 

" Dear , — My public engagements have press- 
ed very heavily upon me, or I should oftener have 
written to you through the winter. I have heard of 
you, by various ways, during your home visit. You 
must have greatly enjoyed the sight and society of 
your friends. But what gives me more pleasure than 
all besides is the report of your studious habits and 
correct deportment. Here my feelings are all ardent- 
ly enlisted, and the best and sweetest return for all 
our anxious cares is your personal welfare and good 
conduct. I said the best ; but, my dear son, I must 
make one exception, a vital and fundamental one. 
There is a dearer wish that I cherish for you : that 
you may turn away from the vain show of this per- 
ishing world, and place your affections on Him whose 
you are, and whom you are bound to love and serve. 

This, my dear , is the highest wisdom. ' Seek the 

Lord while He may be found.' 

"Yours very truly." 

12 



202 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 



"Washington, June 2, 1834. 

" My dear , — Your letter to Aunt C was 

duly received, and we are glad to find that you are 
well, studious, and home-sick. I long again to have 
you, with F , by my side, riding the roan and buy- 
ing the seabass. Home will be very sweet. I hope 
we shall get away by the 1st of July. 

"I should think you had learned enougb of the 
bones to set them when broken, and of the constitu- 
tion to patch it somewhat when out of order ; but this 
I leave with the doctors. How does it fare with the 
mind ? There is a great salvation wrought out for us 
at infinite cost. It has been tendered to you, my son, 
in repeated offers, under many favorable circumstan- 
ces. Your eternal destin}^ depends on your treatment 
of it, and where does it stand in your regard ? Do 
not, I beg of 3^ou, hurry over this subject as one which 
you expect to have referred as a matter of course by 
me. It is a deep, personal, practical concern. Could 
we realize in any measure its vast importance, its con- 
nection with ages of interminable existence, our won- 
der would be that we could feel so little anxiety. May 
the good Spirit of God guide you into all truth, and 
to a happy choice, that when death shall summon you 

away (and, my dear , this may be soon, and can 

not, at the longest, be very far), you may be ready to 
meet your Maker and Judge in peace. 
^' Yours very truly." 

"Newark, Nov. 13, 1884. 

"Dear , — I am happy to learn from your let- 
ters that you are at hard study. I know that it is 
wholesome. The brain needs action. It is like a flint 
— to have fire you must strike it. And this calls up 
another forcible illustration. Look at the hardy forge- 
man, with his brawny arm and vigorous sinew. What 
gave him all this but swinging the ponderous sledge 
that he holds. Once it made him pant to wield it; 



COREESPONDENCE. 203 

now lie can toss it as a plaything. So it is with the 
mind. If you wish to give it strength, and tone, and 
compass, you must put its powers to the trial, bring 
them out to stern, severe, and laborious exercise. 
There is but one way to eminence, and it is not a roy- 
al road. It is rough, thorny, up-hill, full of lions to the 
indolent and faint-hearted, but, with all its adversities, 
delightful to the earnest and enthusiastic. To them 
it repays, as they struggle up and over its difficulties. 
" And thus too, my dear son, would you attain the 
far more exalted place, even a place and a name among 
the followers of the Lord of life and glory. You must 
strive to enter it ; give all diligence ; pray with all 
prayer and supplication ; deny yourself, and renounce 
this vain world as a portion. You must come down 
as a humble penitent to the foot of the cross ; there, 
where the blessed Son of God shed His own blood for 
the remission of sin — there confess all your transgres- 
sions, and look up in His name to a gracious God, if, 
peradventure. He will look upon you in mercy, and 
receive you to His everlasting favor. His promise is 
sure and large as the world : ' Him that cometh unto 
me I will in no wise cast out.' Believe this precious 
declaration, cast your soul upon it, and all will be well 
with you. * * * 

"Very truly and affectionately yours." 

' ' Washington , December 3, 1 834. 

"Dear , — Your favor was duly received, and 

we are glad to learn that your cold is better. I think 
you must enjoy the delights of study ; no cares except 
the student's, so far as this world is concerned, and a 
regular and systematic course of study. The latter is 
invaluable to literary advancement. By-and-by the 
knock of the patient and the calls of business will in- 
terrupt all this order. Therefore, my son, improve 
the present occasion, and while anxious to learn how 
you may heal the maladies of the body, do not forget 



204: LIFE OF FPvELINGHUYSEN. 

that sin has spread its poison over your soul, and look 
to the great Physician who alone can heal. 

" I send you a copy of the Message. It has length 
and variety; a little too harsh upon France, and a 
great deal too severe against the Bank. It exhibits 
the tact of its authors. But enough of politics ; I am 
very tired of them. It will be, my son, very pleasant 
to meet again at our own fireside, and there rejoice to- 
gether in the goodness of our heavenly Father. 
'' Yours very truly." 

''Washington, December 5, 1831. 

"My dear , — Your letter was received this 

morning and read with deep interest. I rejoice to 
learn that your mind has been so long impressed w^ith 
the importance of religion and of making your peace 
with God, and the recent and unexpected breach upon 
our little circle should increase your anxiety. It does 
speak to us all in affecting language to be also ready 
when the summons comes. That a merciful God has 
restrained you by His grace from the commission of 
many sins is matter for unceasing thankfulness ; that 
you can trace His kind hand in all this is encourage- 
ment for you to cast your soul upon His grace, and 
give yourself away to His service forever. Keligion 
concerns the state of the heart toward God. By na- 
ture this is at enmity with Him. Can you require 
farther proof of this than your own past course? 
Have you not preferred the world or your own inter- 
est to Him ? Do you not feel a proneness to get away 
from God, and to place your affections supremely on 
other objects than Him and His service? All this 
must be mourned and repented of. The way of sal- 
vation by the Lord Jesus Christ must be approved of 
and trusted in. Christ died for our sins, that we might 
be pardoned through faith in His blood. God will 
not accept our righteousness, but requires us to helieve 
in His Son for righteousness. 'He that believeth 



COREESPONDENCE. 205 

shall be saved.' Is your heart willing to be saved in 
this way — a way that gives all the glory of your sal- 
vation to Christ, and humbles and strips the sinner of 
all merit? So far, my son, as pardon and justifieation 
are concerned, God has been graciously pleased to 
make this depend on our belief and acceptance. Christ 
offers us peace freely, without money and without 
price, and if we will, He is abundantly willing to save 
us. Eead and pray over the third chapter of the Gos- 
pel of John. There our blessed Savior brings out the 
love of God, the condescension and grace of the Ee- 
deemer, and the only way of salvation. 

" One of your dangers will or may arise from your 
heart being unwilling to go to Christ without some 
other reliance — on your prayers, or good resolutions, 
or breaking off the j)ractice of sin. But God requires 
you to come, guilty and helpless as you are, and trust 
all to His infinite grace. Eeceive the Savior, and then 
you will love and strive to be holy. Faith works by 
love and purifies the heart. 

" My dear , this is a most solemn crisis for your 

soul. Be in earnest, my son. Be constant in prayer 
for His divine teaching. Pray over His Word, espe- 
cially the Gospels, and particularly the whole of John. 
And, in addition, I recommend to you Doddridge's 
' Else and Progress of Eeligion in the Soul.' It has 
been blessed to thousands. Oh, that it may be so to 
you ! Be not ashamed of the religion of the Gospel. 
The adversary, the world, probably your own heart, 
may try you here. Believe not their false and wrick- 
ed suggestions. Eeligion is the glory of our nature. 
Ashamed of the service of the Infinite God ! — a worm 
of the dust guilty of such hateful pride — that service 
in which the purest and most exalted spirits around 
His throne delight to engage as the highest glory of 
their natures ! ISTo wonder our Savior denounces the 
awful malediction on all such, 'Whosoever shall be 
ashamed of mc and of my words, of him also shall the 



i 



206 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEN. 

Son of Man be ashamed when He cometh in His 
glory.' 

''If Mr. J be still in , I hope you will con- 
verse freely with him. He is a judicious, excellent 
counselor. He loves you as a friend, and loves your 
soul. My dear son, be sober, be vigilant. Watch unto 
prayer. Strive to enter in at the strait gate. And 
may the Lord in infinite mercy guide, and enlighten, 
and save you, is the fervent prayer of 

"Yours very sincerely and affectionately." 

"Washington, December 17, 1834. 
'J My dear , — I have just read and been deep- 
ly interested in your letter. I am rejoiced to learn 
that you feel a measure of jour own foulness as well 
as guilt. Be not too soon discouraged, my son. Bless 
the Lord that He has given you any sense of your 
character and condition, and led you to feel at all your 
need of a Savior. Pray for His Spirit to teach, and 
sanctify, and strengthen you. Cast your soul entirely 
upon the infinite grace of God in Jesus Christ. Stay 
not back for luorthiness ; the best preparation is to re- 
alize your unworthiness. I send you a precious little 
volume that I pray may be helpful to you. It is by 
one of the best men of England. It is rich in thought 
and scriptural directions. Let us hear soon again from 
you. I am vividly anxious for your eternal welfare. 

"Yours very truly." 

""Washington, Januarj' 13, 1835. 
"My dear ^^ — Your very grateful and satisfac- 
tory letter was received 3^esterday morning, and I trust 
that my heart does in some feeble measure bless the 
Lord that He has led you by His Spirit, as I hope, out 
of nature's darkness and from the reigning power of 
sin to the love of His blessed and holy character, law, 
and service. I have never desired for you the great 
things of this world, but that you might have a por- 
tion among His own children. The rnatters of which 



I 



CORRESPONDENCE. 207 

you speak as depressing your spirits should not dis- 
hearten you. 

" My dear son, this life is a trial of faith and pa- 
tience, of conflict and endurance. Our joy is in the 
promise, ' My grace shall be sufficient for thee. My 
strength shall be made perfect in weakness.' Kepair, 
then, constantly to the throne of grace. Strive to walk 
with God, to be daily and hourly in the exercise of 
believing prayer and humble confidence. Love your 
closet and your Bible. Keep near to these means of 
grace. The closet is a fountain of living influences. 
But, above all, look to the Author of all these means 
that He would make them effectual. 

" I will write soon to our dear . I pray that 

her heart may be touched by the Holy Spirit and 
quickened into life, convinced of sin and recovered to 

the service of God. I hope you will write to , 

and be faithful to his soul. 

" Yery truly and affectionately yours." 

The ensuing was addressed to another young rela- 
tive on the choice of a profession : 

''Newark, September 24, 1833. 

" My DEAR Nephew^, — I duly received your favor, 
and, in respect to the pursuit of your studies, I think 
it preferable to enter Mr. 's office. The advant- 
age of his experience and counsels will far more than 
remunerate the expense. Perhaps it will be better to 
wait until after the fall election, for probably he may 

again fill the 's chair. So far as to advice upon 

a specific case stated. 

" Now I must beg a moment's attention to the whole 
matter. You desire, I trust, to take that station which 
will most glorify your Redeemer by your labors in 
His cause. Kow is it clear to your mind that such 
place is at the bar? The profession is crowded with 
lawyers — many more now in it than can be usefully 
emploj^ed. I know this is not a sufficient reason to 



208 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEK 

debar one "who will bring industry and piety to his 
aid ; but still it is an item to be weighed. The call 
for laborers in the Lord's vineyard is louder and loud- 
er every day. Thousands are now needed to bear the 
message of life and salvation to a dying world ; and 
will not the gracious returns be sweet and precious 
through eternal ages, of a life devoted in self-denying 
efforts to win souls to the Lord Jesus Christ? You 
have talents well fitted to the pulpit, and I commend 
the case to your careful consideration. Weigh it luell ; 
ponder it in all its relations ; pray earnestly for Divine 
direction ; and may the Spirit of all truth guide you 
in this important matter. 

" Eemember, my dear nephew, that to decide safely 
you must strive to regard the claim as single, and in- 
volved in the proper answer to the inquiry, How shall 
I best live to the glory of my Maker and the good of 
my fellow-men ? Yours very truly." 

To another he wrote thus : 

♦'Newark, June 23, 1838. 

" My dear Nephew, — There has been a chasm in 
our correspondence that I intended to prevent by an 
earlier reply to your last letter ; but my engagements 
have been unusually pressing the present season, and 
left me little time or leisure in my of&ce. I was grat- 
ified by the general spirit of your remarks on the sub- 
ject of religion, but, my dear , I wish 3'-ou to re- 
gard this great subject with a more personal and prac- 
tical consideration. One of my fears for you is delay 
— a postponement of the soul's eternal interests from 
one period to another, on a sort of indefinite assurance 
to your own mind, not very distinctly made, that it 
shall in the future receive its due reflection and con- 
cern. 

" Now you have no hold upon the future. God has 
it all, with every breath of our nostrils, under His ab- 
solute control. He may grant many days ; He may 



CORRESPONDENCE. 209 

cut tliem off in a moment, long before the noon. He 
claims, my dear son, your best affections, your time, 
jOur whole heart. In His Gospel He meets you as a 
fallen sinner, not in His wratli, but in His mercy, and 
offers to pardon your sins and smile upon you with 
His favor if you will return in the exercise of a peni- 
tent heart, believing in His blessed Son as your Sav- 
ior. Surely these terms are easy and reasonable. We 
may have eternal life if toe luill choose it. We may 
have an atoning Savior if we will accept of Him, and 
yield our hearts to His service. We may hope in the 
mercy of God if we will forsake our sins and return 
to His service. 

''Life and death are thus set before you. All that 
is glorious in heaven and terrible in the world of de- 
spair press upon your attention to consider — now, 
while you are a prisoner of hope, while God waits to 
be gracious, that you would forsake your sins and fly 
to the Savior. 

" Seek the light and strength of His blessed Spirit 
to enlighten your mind and to enable you to lay firm 
hold of the Gospel hope. That you may be thus 
guided and blessed is among the constant prayers of 
"Yours affectionately." 

The following characteristic letters were addressed 
to the Eev. James A. H. Cornell, D.D. : 

"New Brunswick, March 4, 1854. 

" My dear Nephew, — I am concerned to find that 
you are still so much of an invalid, but rejoice in the 
tokens of returning health. I suppose that your heart 
to labor was rather stronger than the frame- work in 
which it beats, and when this is the case it will strike 
against the sides, and thus vindicate the rights of the 
poor body. 

" But 1 hope and must believe that you have en- 
joyed some sweet seasons in your suffering. There 
is a precious kind of logic in God's Word which docs 



210 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEI^'. 

not need any syllogism to give it strength. ' Eejoice 
in tribulation ; for tribulation worketh patience, and 
patience experience, and experience hope, and hope 
maketh not ashamed.' The fruits are so rich and com- 
forting ; and, when the pains are past, these remain to 
cheer and bless ns here and forever. 

"May you soon be enabled to show your dear peo- 
ple how faithful and true is the everlasting covenant. 
With best regards to your good wife. 
" Yery truly yours." 

"New Brunswick, April 24, 1860. 

" Dear Nephew, — I am quite anxious to hear of 
your welfare. A severe influenza for a fortnight has 
detained me from New York, so that I am uninform- 
ed of your condition and plans. I concluded to pro- 
voke a letter by a letter. I hope that you are better, 
and will soon move again in your cherished labors in 
your blessed Master's vineyard. 

" Since I saw you we have parted with Brother 
Judd. He died full of peace, in sweet and tranquil 
hope. It was very grateful to witness the affectionate 
respect to his memory at the funeral in Bloomfield. 
A committee of his Montgomery Church attended, 
and a very large concourse of his Bloomfield congre- 
gation and the surrounding churches of ISTewark, Cald- 
well, Orange, etc., etc. It was a beautiful illustration 
of the word of promise, ' The memory of the just is 
blessed.' It is a blessed Gospel which, as Eobert Hall 
remarked, takes up its friends where the world for- 
sakes its votaries. Bloomfield provided the burial lot, 
inclosed by a neat iron fence. Montgomery and Cats- 
kill have resolved to erect the monument to the mem- 
ory of their beloved minister. * * * 
" Yery truly yours." 

" New Brunswick, April 1, 1861. 

"Dear ISTephew, — I learned with great concern 
from the papers that the state of your health had con- 



CORKESPONDENCE. 211 

strained you to resign your place in the Education So- 
ciety.* I sympathize with you in this trial. I trust 
the needed relaxation will, by the blessing of Divine 
Providence, soon restore you, and that a large meas- 
ure of usefulness in the Gospel ministry will yet re- 
main for 5^ou. 

" Your agency has been richly compensated in its 
abundant fruits— fruits that will be felt for genera- 
tions to come in time, and that will flow over to the 
ages of eternity. Our Dutch Church owes you much 
for the enlargement of her borders and the increase of 
her ministry. 

" When the weather softens, it will be a very good 
restorative for you to make us a visit with your good 
wife, and take a look on the ground of your labors, 
and see whether the plants you put in here have taken 
root, and how they grow. It will cheer me amid many 
perplexing cares of the college, and I hope will re- 
fresh you. * '^ * 

" A few lines from you will also do good to me and 
to yourself It is the next best to the sight of a friend. 
These trials of health and patience are part of the ' all 
things that work together for good to them that love 
God.' How sweet is the consolation to take the trial 
to the throne, and plead for and expect the benefit. 
The very recourse to God that it urges is itself a rich 
blessing, as is any cause which brings us near to our 
Savior and keeps us there. 

" Yery truly and affectionately yours." 

" New Brunswick, Feb. 7, 1862. 

"Dear Nephew, — It seems a long time since 1 
have heard from you or of you. I have been medi- 
tating an assault in this mode for some days, and this 
not only to hear a word of your welfare, but also to 
assure you that you have the same warm place in my 

* Dr. Cornell had been for some years the Secretary of the Board 
of Education of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. 



212 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

remembrance that you have always held. And how 
is it with you ? Is your health improved ? Hath pa- 
tience its perfect work ? Do you feel thankful for its 
trials ? 

" How is your good wife ? We often speak of you. 
We have had a winter of much ill health. My good 
wife was confined for four weeks by a serious cough, 
and I for ten days. But the Lord has kindly restored 
us. The students have suffered much ; four are now 
recovering from fevers. * * ^ 
" Yery truly yours." 

In the autumn of the year 1861, the Eev. Dr. De 
Witt was bereaved of his youngest daughter, a young 
lady of uncommon excellence. Soon afterward the 
following note was addressed by Mr. Frelinghuysen to 
his intimate friends, the mourning parents : 

"New Brunswick, Nov. 7, 1861. 

" My dear afflicted Friends, — I deeply feel and 
mourn jowt severe bereavement. My heart bleeds 
with you and for you. There is no alleviation from 
earth, or I would earnestly seek it for you ; but there 
is precious consolation in the thought that the Lord 
has done it — that it is a part of His counsels from ev- 
erlasting — that every stage of it, with every pain, and 
sigh, and tear — not one more nor one less, formed the 
scheme of His dispensation. And, my dear friends, 
is it not a sweet comfort to remember that ' He knows 
your sorrows,' and His compassionate heart says to 
you, ' Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will 
deliver thee?' May His gracious Spirit be with you, 
to sustain your afilicted hearts, and enrich you with 
the choicest fruits of sanctified tribulation ! In all 
which my dear wife unites. 

" Very truly your friend and brother in the best of 
bonds. 

" The Rev. Dr. and Mrs. De Witt." 



CONNECTION WITH BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 213 



CHAPTER XII. 

CONNECTION WITH BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 

A. B. C. F. M. — American Bible Society. — American Tract Society. 
— American Colonization Society. — American Sunday-school 
Union. — American Temperance Union. 

From an early period of liis life Mr. Frelinghuysen 
was in the liabit of advocating on the platform the 
claims of organized Christian benevolence. This habit 
was due not to any zeal for notoriety or any love for 
the excitements of popular speaking, but to his deep 
interest in philanthropic enterprises, and his earnest 
desire to do what he could for the welfare of his fel- 
low-men. His name, and position, and character add- 
ed attractiveness to his speech, and his efforts were re- 
ceived with general acceptance. Being thus brought 
into contact with those intrusted with the direction of 
the great benevolent associations of the age, and the 
benefits of his counsel and influence being perceived, 
he was gradually introduced into a closer connection 
with, their interior working, and a more responsible 
position in their management. This extended so far 
that it may be truly said that no American la3mian 
was ever associated with so many great national or- 
ganizations of religion and charity. He was or had 
been president of no less than four, while his name is 
found upon the list of officers of all the rest, with 
scarcely an exception. 



214 LIFE OF FKELINGHUYSEN. 

FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

The institution over whicb. he presided for the long- 
est term of years, and in which his interest was the 
most deeply cherished, was the American Board of 
Commissioners for Foreign Missions, founded at 
Boston in 1810, well known throughout Christendom 
for the faith of its founders, the wisdom of its manage- 
ment, the wide extent of its operations, the zeal, abil- 
ity, and piety of its laborers, and the large success 
which has attended its efforts. He was chosen one of 
its corporate members in 1826, and attended its an- 
nual meetings as often as circumstances permitted. 
His farther connection with the Board is well shown 
in the following extract from a communication made 
to the author by the Rev. Dr. Treat, one of the secre- 
taries : 

'' Mr. Frelinghuysen was chosen President of the 
Board in 1841. No selection could have been more 
acceptable to our entire constituency. His career as 
a member of the United States Senate had secured for 
him a most enviable reputation. As a man of integ- 
rity and ability he had the respect of all. As a Chris- 
tian and philanthropist he stood second to none. Much 
as Jersey men loved and honored him, it admits of a 
serious question whether others were a whit behind 
them in this regard. 

" During the sixteen years of his presidency, noth- 
ing occurred to lessen the esteem in which he was 
held. His deportment in the chair, always dignified 
and courteous — his annual address, always earnest 
and effective — made him a universal favorite. It was 
with the profoundest regret, therefore, that we saw 
him relinquish his position. We felt that we were 



CONNECTION WITH BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 215 

parting from a dear and venerable friend who had 
long been the central figure in our pleasant convoca- 
tions. 

" The reason of his withdrawal is thus stated in a let- 
ter written by him to the nominating committee of 
the Board, dated Providence, September 10, 1857 : 

" 'Dear Brethren, — The recent action of the Gen- 
eral Synod of the Keformed Protestant Dutch Church, 
of which I am an humble member, in deciding here- 
after to conduct their foreign missions on their own 
distinct Church organization, renders it becoming and 
proper for me to decline, as I hereby do, a nomination 
and choice to the office of president of your Board. 
The generous Christian confidence that first elected, 
and has long continued me in that place of distinguish- 
ed honor, will be among the precious recollections 
of my life. With deep personal regret I part with 
you.' 

" The committee appointed to express the sense of 
the Board, in view of its bereavement, reported the 
following resolutions, which were cordially adopted : 

" ' Resolved^ That in addition to the deep regret which 
this Board has experienced in the separation, not in 
feeling, but in action, from our brethren of the Keform- 
ed Dutch Church, we feel that our trial is rendered 
more severe, and our regret more deep, by the fact 
that, in consequence of the sundering of these ties, we 
have also been compelled to relinquish our beloved 
presiding officer. 

" ^ Resolved^ That this Board have received with deep 
emotion and unaffected grief the communication from 
our late president in which he declines to be a candi- 
date for renomination or re-election. 

^^^ Resolved, That we can not permit him to retire 
from an office which he has filled to such universal 
acceptance for a period of sixteen years without an 



216 LIFE OF FEELIXGHUYSEN. 

expression, not simply of regret at parting, but also of 
our high appreciation of the valuable services which 
he has rendered during his period of of&ce. 

" ^ Resolved^ That in Theodoke Frelinghuysen we 
have found combined qualifications which singularly 
fitted him to preside over the deliberations of such a 
body ; bringing to the discharge of his official duties 
ripe experience in parliamentary rules and forms, 
promptness, accuracy, and impartiality in the transac- 
tion of business, keen insight into character, tact and 
judgment in facilitating the dispatch of business, uni- 
form courtesy in his intercourse with all the members 
of the Board — wisely and happily blending mildness, 
and even gentleness, with unhesitating firmness and 
energy ; one of whom we can safely say we have not 
known his superior as a presiding officer; and com- 
bining with these peculiar qualifications for his station 
warm-hearted piety and fervid eloquence. 

" ^ Resolved^ That we tender to Hon. Theodore Fre- 
linghu3^sen our cordial wishes that he may yet enjoy 
many years of usefulness and happiness in his new 
field of honorable duty.' 

" These resolutions were prepared by one who has 
enjoyed a large acquaintance with deliberative assem- 
blies, and who therefore knows whereof he affirms. 

" For reasons which were perfectly satisfactory, Mr. 
Frelinghuysen refused to make a farewell address at 
Providence ; but, a few daj^s later, he sent a letter to 
'the secretaries and presidential committee,' which I 
will transfer to these pages. It is as follows : 

'' ' Dear Brethren, — In our interesting interviews 
at Providence, I suggested that the matter of a fare- 
well speech I could better arrange by letter ; that the 
separation involved to me so much of feeling that I 
could not well intrust it to a public occasion. When- 
our several Christian denominations, the Congregation- 
al, Old and New School Presbyterian, and the Eeform- 



CONNECTION WITH BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 217 

eel Protestant DutcL, all labored in love together on 
benighted and heathen fields, it struck me as a beauti- 
ful type of our blessed Master's religion in its aspects 
toward these lands of darkness. The heathen saw 
that, indeed, the followers of Christ were ' one ;' one 
in profession, in principle, and in action ; that they 
who thought alike could and did work together. But 
it seems that this good time is yet to wait. I believe 
that we shall hail this blessed temper in universal 
prevalence, when the salvation of our fellow-men shall 
so fill our anxieties and our prayers, so shape our 
plans and quicken all our endeavors, that Christians 
will have time only to rejoice that in so many things 
they agree, and will want time and heart to detect and 
expose the few unessential things in which they may 
differ. For this heavenly union let us, dear brethren, 
pray and labor. 

'"In parting from you, I feel as a child parting from 
a venerated and beloved mother. Like a mother you 
have cherished us, when we were few and feeble. You 
took us under the wings of your care, and linked our 
interests together. We thank you for all your kind- 
ness. We thank God for the precious seasons of 
Christian privilege that we have enjoyed together. 
We have often gone up to the heights of Zion, and 
looked down upon this dark world, and traced the 
footsteps of our wonder-working God and Eedeemer. 
And from these " heavenly places" we have together 
hailed the first streaks of the morning, the sure tokens 
of that coming glory which the Sun of Eighteousness 
shall shed upon this benighted and sin-stricken world. 
These hallowed seasons will be for grateful thanksgiv- 
ing in that blessed world where partings never grieve, 
and the past shall be recalled only to augment the 
pleasures of a sanctified memory. 

'"As the American Board was the first Christian 
association to which, in my youth, I found it a privi- 
lege to give, so it shall continue to receive the yearly 

K 



218 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

contributions of a very humble store, as God shall 
prosper me. 

" ' With affectionate regards, dear brethren, very sin- 
cerely your friend and brother in the best of bonds, 

" ' Theo. Frelinghuysek.' 

*' To this communication, one of the secretaries, in 
behalf of the prudential committee and of his associ- 
ates, replied, ' For yourself personally we shall ever 
cherish the highest regard and the warmest Christian 
affection. Your whole course in respect to the Board 
has been such that we could not wish it to have been 
otherwise, and we have no doubt that this is the uni- 
versal sentiment among the members and friends of 
the Board. These delightful and hallowed seasons 
which we have spent together on earth will be remem- 
bered in heaven, increasing the richness and sweetness 
of that blessed communion of saints which will have 
no interruption and know no end.' 

''Allow me to say that my own acquaintance with 
Mr. Frelinghuysen commenced in the spring of 1836, 
when I became pastor of the Third Presbyterian 
Church in Newark. I had formed a very high esti- 
mate of his character, but when I knew him personal- 
ly my regard for him only increased. I have often 
said Mr. Frelinghuysen is one of the select few whose 
greatness does not contract upon a nearer approach. 

" I am, dear sir, very respectfully and fraternally 
yours, S. B. Treat, Sec. of A. B. C. F. M." 

AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY. 

The constancy and thoroughness of Mr.Frelinghuy- 
sen's devotional study of the Scriptures has already 
been mentioned. The rich experimental knowledge 
he thus attained of the value of the Sacred Volume 
naturally led him to take a deep interest in all proper 
schemes for increasing the circulation of it among all 



CONNECTION WITH BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 219 

classes of men. He did much in this respect in a pri- 
vate way all his life, and at the same time cordially 
co-operated with the great national institution found- 
ed for the purpose in the year 1816. A succinct state- 
ment of his connection with the American Bible So- 
ciety is given in the following letter, kindly furnished 
by one of the secretaries : 

"Bible House, Astor Place, New York, March 3, 1863. 

'' Eev. T. W. Chambers, D.D. : 

"Dear Brother, — At your request I submit the 
following brief statement respecting the services of 
the late Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen during the thir- 
ty-two years of his official relations to the American 
Bible Society. 

"In 1830 he was elected a vice-president, in the. 
room of that eminent Christian jurist, the Hon. An- 
drew Kirkpatrick, chief justice of the Supreme Court 
of New Jersey, who had deceased a short time before. 
In the year 1846 he was unanimously elected to the 
presidency of the institution, succeeding the lion. 
John Cotton Smith, of Connecticut, who for fifteen 
years previous to his death, in a ripe old age, had oc- 
cupied the high station. (The date of this election 
was April 2, 1846.) Mr. Frelinghuysen was not the 
least of the illustrious men who have filled the presi- 
dency of the American Bible Society, and his name 
will be cherished by all who can appreciate the mem- 
ories of Elias Boudinot, John Jay, Richard Varick, 
and John Cotton Smith — men whose services were 
given to the state and the Church with the power of 
a noble Christian consecration. The following is his 
letter of acceptance of the office : 

" 'Newark, April, 17, 184^. 

" ' Gentlemen, — Your favor of the 8d inst., inform- 
ing me of my appointment to the office of President 
of the American Bible Society, has been duly received. 



220 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

I am deeply impressed with the honor done me by 
this mark of confidence on the part of the Board of 
Managers. And, in accepting the important station 
proffered, it shall be my earnest purpose, after my hum- 
ble measure, to co-operate with the Board of Managers 
in giving increased circulation to that sacred Book, 
which reveals the best and only lasting hope for our- 
selves, our country, and the world. 

" ' With great esteem, gentlemen, your obedient 
servant, Theo. Frelinghuysen". 

" 'Messrs. P. G. Stuyvesant,) 

J. C. Brigham, >• Com. of Board.' 

Joseph Hyde, ) 

"During his residence in this city as Chancellor of 
the University of New York, he frequently presided 
at the meetings of the Board of Managers, where his 
presence was ever welcomed and his counsels were 
valued. He adorned his place with peculiar dignity, 
grace, and administrative ability, while his courtesy, 
candor, and decision made him the model of a presid- 
ing officer in a body whose meetings have always been 
distinguished for an order and a spirit which befit the 
great cause they have advanced to its present propor- 
tions. He was not a member of the standing commit- 
tees, although his advice was doubtless sought by all 
of them when needed. During the seventeen years 
of his presidency, Mr. Frelinghuysen was present at 
every anniversary of the society, and delivered the 
opening address on each of these great public relig- 
ious assemblies. These productions were brief, point- 
ed, classical in style, varied in matter, fragrant with 
the spirit of the Bible, full of unction and wisdom. 
They were delivered with that silver-tongued elo- 
quence of which he was a master, and on certain occa- 
sions produced grand effects upon his audiences, while 
they were always welcomed with favor. Most of these 
addresses were printed in the reports of the society 
and other documents, and I am persuaded that a col- 



CONNECTION WITH BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 221 

lection of them would add not a little to the treasures 
of an eloquence which should not be left to the tradi- 
tional memories of a generation that is fast passing 
away. 

"The greatest service which Mr. Frelinghuysen 
rendered to this institution was by the continual pow- 
er of his name, character, and influence. He was the 
representative man of our American evangelical cath- 
olic Christianity, and as such it was fitting that his 
most eminent position during the last seventeen years 
of his life should have been — what he himself regard- 
ed as the highest honor conferred on him by men — 
the presidency of the American Bible Society. 

" I append the testimony of the Board of Managers 
after his lamented death. The preamble and resolu- 
tions were prepared and presented by his successor in 
the office of president, the Hon. Luther Bradish. 

" With warm personal recollections and high ven- 
eration of our noble friend, and praying that your 
memorial of him may, by the blessing of God, long 
perpetuate his good name, I am yours, very fraternal- 
ly, "William J. R. Taylor, 

Cor. Sec. Am. Bible Society. 

" ' Whereas, In the dispensations of Providence, the 
Honorable Theodore Frelinghuysen, long the beloved 
president of this society, has been removed from the 
scene of his activity and usefulness here to his final 
rest and reward ; therefore 

" '■Resolved, That this society, while it bows in hum- 
ble submission to this deeply afflictive dispensation, 
desires to place on record an expression of its high 
appreciation of the character and services of the de- 
ceased, and of its deep sense of the loss the society, 
the Church, and the community have sustained in his 
death. 

" '■Resolved, That the life of the distinguished de- 
ceased, whether passed in the councils of his country, 
in its higher educational or charitable institutions, or 



222 LIFE OF FKELINGHUYSEN. 

in his social and private relations, was a bright and 
beautiful illustration of the principles and teaching of 
that Bible he loved so well, and labored so zealously 
to extend to the benighted and the destitute. Those 
precious principles and that divine teaching were the 
constant subject of his earnest thoughts and deepest 
affections. They not only formed the standard of his 
faith, but were the uniform and governing rule of his 
daily life. By them he lived, and by them he died. 
They moulded his character here, and were the unfail- 
ing foundation of his hopes hereafter. 

" ^Besolved, That while the society mourns the loss 
of such a colaborer in the prosecution of its high and 
benevolent objects, it is deeply grateful for the exam- 
ple of such a character as that of its distinguished as- 
sociate — a character whose influence is not confined 
to the narrow limits of the life or the circle in which 
it was manifested, but will be as extensive and endur- 
ing as the memory of what is highest and purest in 
the history of humanity. 

" ^ Resolved^ That while thus recording its own, the 
society desires to express its deep sympathy in the 
grief of the immediate family of the deceased, at the 
loss of one so endeared to them, and so exemplary in 
all the tender relations of domestic life. 

"'^e5o?2;e(i, That the above preamble and resolu- 
tions be entered at large upon the journal of the soci- 
ety, and that a copy thereof, duly authenticated, be 
communicated to the family of the deceased.' " 

AFRICAN COLOXIZATION. 

Mr. Frelinghuysen's interest in this important en- 
terprise was intense and life-long. At the very be- 
ginning it came to him commended by the character 
of the founder of the American Colonization Society. 
This was the Rev. Dr. Finley, under whose instructions 
he had been prepared for college at the beginning of 



CONNECTION WITH BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 223 

the century. But his attachment to the cause did not 
depend upon personal influences so much as upon its 
own intrinsic merits. Having been himself a slave- 
holder by inheritance, and personally familiar with 
the condition and character of the negro race, his be- 
nevolent sympathies were aroused by the prospect of 
restoring them, with their own consent, to the land of 
their forefathers, there to erect a free Christian com- 
monwealth. His sober reflection confirmed the im- 
pulses of his heart, and he became a stanch advocate 
and supporter of the colonization scheme. He can- 
didly considered the various objections which from 
time to time were raised against the enterprise, but his 
original convictions of its philanthropy and expediency 
never wavered. He contributed largely to its funds, 
gave his counsels to its officers, advocated its claims 
upon the platform, and devoted the only article he 
ever contributed to a quarterly review to a defense of 
its character and policy. 

The following letter from the Eev. Dr. E. E. Gurley 
presents some interesting reminiscences of his early 
and prolonged attachment to this great scheme of en- 
lightened philanthropy : 

*' Washington, Office of the Colonization Society,) 
July 1,1 8G2. > 

"My dear Sir, — I am most happy to learn that 
you are preparing a memoir of my lamented and ever- 
to-be-honored friend, Mr. Frelinghuysen, whom it was 
a privilege for any one to know, and hardly less so to 
commemorate. He was so humble as not to seek for 
human praise, yet so disinterested that I believe he 
would take pleasure in knowing that others were 
moved to admiration and imitation of his illustrious 
example, although felt by him to be dim in the light 



224 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEN. 

and power of a Greater. It was liis happiness to stud}^, 
in all the relations of life, the character of that holy 
and just One, who did no sin, neither was guile found 
in his mouth. Few men have ever approached nearer 
to the perfection of the Author and Finisher of the 
Christian faith. 

"It is about forty years ago since I first met Mr. 
Frelinghuysen, in his own house at Newark, in com- 
pany with several gentlemen who were invited to con- 
fer together in regard to the application of a fund, in 
the hands of Mr. Jefferson, for the education of female 
colored children, and which a society in New Jersey 
hoped might be placed by the trustee, Mr. Lea (to 
whom it had been conveyed by Mr. Jefferson), at their 
disposal. The meeting was rendered exceedingly 
agreeable and instructive by the conversation of Mr. 
Frelinghuysen, and the earnestness and kindness with 
which he entered into the benevolent object for which 
it had been convened. The sudden decease of Mr. 
Lea, and the attempt of the heirs of Kosciusko to de- 
feat the object of the testator, led the society to aban- 
don their benevolent scheme. But from that time 
Mr. Frelinghuysen evinced an ardent and constant in- 
terest in the design of the American Colonization So- 
ciety, and became one of its most generous and able 
friends. He subscribed liberally to the publication of 
the Life of Ashmun, subscribed one thousand dollars 
[to the purposes of the society], on the plan of Gerrit 
Smith Q^aying one hundred dollars a year for ten 
years), and gave generously to the cause to the clos- 
ing years of his life. 

"For many years he sustained the office of vice- 
president of the society ; he ever stood ready to afford 
his best counsels to the directors, and he pleaded with 
the persuasiveness and power of his eloquence for Af- 
rica and her dispersed and afflicted children. As a 
statesman, his unblemished morality and eminent 
Christian character gave great weight to his opinions ; 



CONNECTION WITH BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 225 

and bis warm clevotedness to all patriotic objects, as 
well as tbose embracing all mankind, attracted tbe at- 
tention and confidence of all pbilantbropic societies, 
and disposed them to ask tbe aid of bis eloquence on 
many great occasions, and probably no man in tbe 
country exerted a more cbeerful or more widespread 
influence for tbe public good and for tbe kingdom of 
Jesus Cbrist. In tbe hearts of tbe great and good, in 
tbe admiration of Christians of every name, in this and 
many lands, will his memory be cherished and hon- 
ored forever. Africa will remember him forever as 
one of her truest and best friends. 

" I have pleasure in supplying, in tbe publications 
herewith sent, many reminiscences of this admirable 
man, with copies of several of his speeches, persuasive 
both in thought and language. 

"Most respectfully yours, E. E. Gurley." 

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 

Mr. Frelingbuysen's interest in the work of this be- 
neficent institution dates almost from its origin, and 
continued without interruption or abatement to tbe 
end of his life. He made one of tbe addresses at the 
third annual meeting, held in 1828, and at frequent in- 
tervals afterward. The senior secretary, the Eev. Dr. 
Hallock, in a letter to tbe author, dated July 24, 1862, 
bears distinct and cordial testimony to bis services. 
After mentioning some documents and manuscripts 
sent with the letter, tbe writer proceeds : 

"I can not express how precious, cheering, eleva- 
ting, and ennobling was Mr. Frelingbuysen's influence 
during tbe whole of his six years' presidency, from 
1842 to 1848. In bis addresses, and in bis whole life 
and intercourse, there was a deep, mellowed spiritual- 
ity, drawn from tbe depths of God's Word and the 

K2 



226 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEN. 

teachings of his Spirit, blended with a high and chas- 
tened intellect, and urbanity, and heart-reaching kind- 
ness and Christian love, that I have never been con- 
scious of meeting in any other man, nor do I expect 
ever to witness and enjoy it so fully again. His mem- 
ory is embalmed in all our hearts, and will remain 
fragrant till death, and then go on, in a brighter sphere, 
I trust forever. It is a high privilege to prepare the 
memoir of such a one, and I gladly furnish you the 
rich material he has bequeathed to this society. 

"With respect and esteem, your affectionate brother, 

" Wm. a. Hallock, Secretary." 

From the "rich material" kindly furnished by the 
secretary, the following selections are made. 

In May, 1842, when he was first appointed president 
of the American Tract Society, he used these terms in 
replying to the notice : 

"To be associated with an institution of such dis- 
tinguished usefulness, and with a board of of&cers of 
such public esteem and personal worth, is no common 
honor. And in accepting the place to which your in- 
dulgent kindness has chosen me, I cherish the hope 
that, through the grace of our blessed Eedeemer, I may 
be in some humble measure made useful." 

Four years afterward he deemed it his duty to re- 
tire from the station, and so expressed himself to the 
secretary, adding, at the same time, these words : 

"In retiring at this time from the office, I hardly 
need to assure you that my decision arises from no 
diminution of confidence in the Tract Society or its 
management and aims. I regard it as a blessed agen- 
cy for our country, full of promise, and rich in the tes- 
timonials of God's favor. It is my purpose, as it will 
be my privilege and duty, to co-operate with you in 



CONNECTION WITH BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 227 

extending its influences widely as the ripening fields 
indicate the need of the reaper and the sickle." 

He was, however, prevailed upon to retract his re- 
fasal to serve, and continued two years longer in the 
office. But in 18-i8, despite farther solicitation, he re- 
newed and persisted in his determination to withdraw, 
as appears by the following letter : 

*' Dear Sir, — I have farther considered the matter 
of the Tract presidency since I had the pleasure of 
your visit, and have concluded that the way is quite 
open for the appointment of another president. If 
you had encountered any serious difficulties in select- 
ing a successor, I should have regarded the matter as 
of more difficult duty ; but the choice is of one so de- 
servedly high in the confidence of his country and in 
the affectionate esteem of the Church, that I am grate- 
ful that, while my own feelings are relieved of a pain- 
ful position (in the one respect only\ the cause and the 
society will have in such near connection a long-tried, 
judicious, and excellent friend. With my fervent 
wishes and prayers that God may continue to smile 
upon your labors of love in spreading far the princi- 
ples of His blessed Gospel, and give you at last a place 
among those who have turned many to righteousness, 
I remain with sincere regard, your friend and brother, 

" Theo. Frelinghuysen." 

Of the many addresses made by Mr. Frelinghuysen 
in behalf of the Tract cause, one is reproduced here, 
mainly because it expresses views and maxims upon 
which he himself habitually acted from the period of 
his first consecration to the Savior. It was delivered 
in the Broadway Tabernacle at the anniversary of the 
City Tract Society in December, 1836. The scope of 
the resolution in support of which the speaker arose 



228 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

was the importance of " prayerful personal efforts for 
the salvation of men." According to the report made 
at the time, Mr. Frelinghnysen said, 

"The eye of God is upon those engaged in this 
cause with peculiar complacency, for their trials are 
peculiar. To give liberally is a privilege to the lib- 
eral soul. There is so much that is delightful in the 
promise of the great plans of public beneficence, that 
the trial of the service has passed away. Christian 
men would deem it a lost blessing if the occasion did 
not meet them for pouring into the treasure-house of 
God. So a public convention, where the pulse of 
Christian sympathy is warmed b}^ fellowship, where 
the law of kindness reigns, where face answers to face, 
and prayer mingles with prayer, and heart with heart 
— why, instead of a cross, it is a jubilee. It is one 
of the heavenly places which gladdened the apostles' 
heart, and now rejoices every heart that loves Zion. 
But to go alone into the by-paths of sin ; to approach 
the thoughtless in the world of fashion, and, with a 
face set as a flint in the stern discharge of duty, faith- 
fully admonish, exhort, and plead the cause of God 
and the soul — to meet the scorn and taunts of ridicule, 
and take them meekly — to bow the head, and rejoice 
to suffer shame for Jesus — this is a service which no 
fortitude can endure but that which a deep conviction 
of the value and the danger of the soul inspires. 

"But the rewards become the enterprise. A just 
sense of the momentous interests at hazard, an estab- 
lished faith in the retribution which awaits us, and a 
growing love for the souls of men, will sustain the 
mind amid all the tribulations which lie in the path. 
The tract missionary looks to the end, and there he 
casts his hopes. He knows that the hour will come 
when every anxious thought and every faithful warn- 
ing will be indicated, not only by the jo^^s of the re- 
deemed, but also by the despair of the lost. He is as- 



CONNECTION WITH BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 229 

sured that when the trump of God shall awaken the 
dead of all generations, whatever wailings of anguish 
may break from the opening tombs, there will then be 
no reproaches heard that he stood the fiery trial of 
cruel revilings, and met the world's laugh with the 
meek firmness of a steadfast heart. 

" When we consider the constitution of the soul, as 
God has endowed it, with all its sympathies, we can 
not be surprised at the result of such means. True, 
He is sovereign in all this, but His sovereign pleasure 
is to act and save according to the laws of the mind 
and the dictates of the soundest philosophy. There is 
a chord in the bosom even of the vile that responds to 
kindness. Self-respect is soothed by the regard which 
personal faithfulness betokens. And although the 
thoughtless and profane may scorn the message and 
hate the counsel, they must and do defer to the con- 
cern you manifest. Conscience pleads for you, and, 
when face meets face — when the missionary of mercy 
enters the abode of the wretched, seeking the everlast- 
ing welfare of its inmates, they can not always stifle 
the conviction that such earnestness, so clear of all self- 
ish motive, and so pure in its design, must be prompt- 
ed by causes which the infidelity of the heart can nei- 
ther change nor control. 

"A case, not long since, in your own state, happily 
exhibits the power of this agency. An aged culprit 
in one of your prisons, who was suffering for his 
crimes, was one Sabbath morning approached by the 
missionary. He sat down by his side, and, with af- 
fectionate solicitude, inquired of him the state of his 
feelings. The unhappy man instantly burst into tears. 
So peculiar was his agitation that the man of God was 
struck with it, and sought the cause of such strong 
emotion. 'Sir,' said he, 'it is the first time in forty 
years that I have heard the language of kindness, and 
it overwhelms me.' He had passed through scenes of 
awful transgression, and had hardened his heart; he 



230 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

had met unmoved the rigors of imprisonment ; he had 
gone through the trial and endured the penalty ; he 
had heard iron bolts driven, and his eye never falter- 
ed nor a nerve gave way; but when the sound of 
Christian sympathy fell on his ear, it penetrated his 
heart, and brought down that proud spirit that never 
had quailed before. 

" With such exalted motives to urge us, why shall 
not this effective instrumentality be greatly enlarged 
in its numbers and influence ? With so much of dis- 
traction in business, so much of dangerous allurement 
in ambition, and pleasure, and fashion, to quench any 
serious feeling and desire, who does not rejoice that 
we may sometimes be met in the path of worldhness 
by him who dares to tell us the truth, and, at the price 
of our scorn or displeasure, to be faithful to our eter- 
nal interests ? With all its trials, I doubt not, it brings 
a peace that passeth all understanding. It must be 
so ; for it is that direction and application of talents 
which He who bestowed them designed. 

" Think you, sir, that Harlan Page ever knew a re- 
gret because of his toils in this blessed service ? _ It 
was the glory of his life, it was the joy of his dying 
hour; it will be his bright and imperishable crown 
forever. And when that blessed spirit shall meet the 
goodly number whom he turned to righteousness, as 
they strike their harps together in the new song of 
praise to the Lamb that was slain, then, and for end- 
less ages thereafter, he will begin to learn of the heights 
and depths of the recompense that grace awards to 
those who have done good to souls. He has furnish- 
ed a new chapter on Christian faithfulness. Every 
follower of Christ should study his life, should tread 
closely in his footsteps, should covet such blessed gifts 
of the Spirit. Sir, we are bound to engage in this 
work. Every dictate of duty and every sentiment of 
regard for our friends and fellow-men not only invite, 
but demand such consecration of personal influence. 



CONNECTION WITH BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 231 

"I am persuaded, sir, that we are prone to mystify 
religion and its higli duties, and thus we are often ap- 
palled by terrors which our own fancies have created. 
We exaggerate difficulties often where the way is 
smooth, predict harsh repulses where we should meet 
with respectful attention. Sir, our irreligious friends 
expect us to be faithful to them. Their surprise is far 
more awakened, and oftener too, by our guilty silence, 
than by our affectionate and earnest solicitude. Let 
us bear our living testimony, in the face of our fellow- 
men, to the reality and the tremendous issues of eter- 
nal things. Granted that there are trials. It is just 
such discipline as is needed to test and develop, the 
strength of Christian character — -just such as is indis- 
pensable for the cultivation of a vigorous piety. How 
else shall we cherish the stern virtues of self-denial, 
holy fortitude, and triumphant faith ? These conflicts 
lead ns to the only refuge where we may gain grace 
to suffer and faith to prevail." 

THE AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION. 

The active personal interest which Mr. Frelinghuy- 
sen took, from his first connection with the people of 
God, in the Sunday-school of the church which he at- 
tended, would naturally lead him to regard with favor 
the society which aimed to secure the establishment 
of such schools throughout the country. The author 
is indebted to Frederick A. Packard, Esq., the accom- 
plished secretary of that society, for the following 
statement of Mr. Frelinghuysen's zeal and efforts in 
this behalf. Here, as elsewhere, the scale of the duty 
to be performed made no difference in the conscien- 
tious fidelity with which he discharged it. He was 
regular and faithful as the teacher of a single class, 
and at the same time ready efficiently to help the ef- 



232 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

forts made to diffuse the institution over the breadth 
of the continent. 

"If any conviction had a deeper hold upon the mind 
of Theodore Frelinghuysen than another, it was the ab- 
solute indispensahleness of moral and religious as well as 
intellectual cidture to the loreservation and 'peipetuity of a 
popular governmeyit Throughout his public career 
this great subject seems to have been always present 
to his mind, and, as the system of instruction in Sab- 
bath-schools became more and more manifestly 
adapted to the need of the country, and especially the 
new and sparsely-settled parts of it, he entered with 
all the warmth of his benevolent heart into its sup- 
port. What were his early local relations to the Sab- 
bath-school is known to others ; the present paper is 
concerned only with his more general and public sym- 
pathy with it, and, though our means are very imper- 
fect, we can trace with no little interest the progress 
of his opinions and convictions on the subject. In 
June, 1826 (in acknowledging the notice of his elec- 
tion as a vice-president of the American Sunday-school 
Union), he says : 

" ' I have long regarded the Sabbath - school _ as 
among the most efi&cient means, under the Divine 
blessing, of advancing the Eedeemer's kingdom, and 
as intimately connected with true national prosperity. 
Their blessed influence is beginning to be seen in this 
town (Newark, New Jersey), where upward^ of 1000 
children are under their weekly instruction.'" 

" In acknowledging a similar notice in June, 1828, 
he says : 

" 'To be in any way connected with the objects of 
this blessed charity I feel to be an honor and a privi- 
lege. I have long looked to this moral engine as, un- 
der the Divine blessing, identified with the best hopes 
of our country.' 

* The number now in attendance is, of course, vastly increased. 



CONNECTION WITH BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 233 

*' The rapidity with which the Yalley of the Missis- 
sippi was fining up, and the inadequacy of existing 
means to supply the moral and religious as well as 
the intellectual wants of the people, had moved the 
heart of Christian benevolence, and, as the most hope- 
ful field of effort was found among the children and 
youth, the friends of the American Sunday-school Union 
conceived the purpose of expanding its missionary 
work to embrace that vast region ; and, without com- 
prehending very definitely the extent and difficulties 
of the undertaking, they resolved (May 25, 1830), ' in 
reliance upon Divine aid, to establish a Sunday-school 
within two years in every destitute place, where it is 
practicable, throughout the Valley of the Mississippi.' 
In the following February, the late Eev. John Bkeck- 
INRIDGE volunteered his valuable services to bring 
the subject, which he regarded as of great national im- 
portance, to the notice and appreciation of our leading 
public men, and to this end a meeting was appointed 
at Washington, February 16, 1831, at which the late 
Hon. Felix Grundy, of Tennessee, presided ; and 
such men as Elisha Whittlesey, of Ohio ; N. D. 
Coleman and Charles A. Wickliffe, of Kentucky ; 
Charles E. Haynes, of Ceorgia, and Daniel Web- 
ster, of Massachusetts, advocated, with eloquent earn- 
estness, the great purpose which had been undertaken. 
At this meeting Mr. Frelinghuysen, then a member of 
the Senate from New Jersey, expressed his convic- 
tions with great force and freedom, and probably un- 
derstood more perfectly than any of his coadjutors the 
comprehensive bearings of the subject. Mr. Freling- 
huysen offered the following resolution : 

^^^ Resolved^ That the objects contemplated by the 
late resolution of the American Sunday-school Union, 
adopted in May last, commend themselves to the pa- 
tronage and best wishes of every American statesman, 
patriot, and Christian.' And in support of it address- 
ed the meeting as follows : 



234 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

" .' Mr. Chairman, I always rejoice in the occasion 
that enables me to raise my voice in behalf of the Sun- 
day-school. I regard it, sir, as the most benignant en- 
terprise of modern benevolence. It is the fountain- 
spring of good. In all its aspects it is full of promise. 
That "season of existence which has been most neglect- 
ed, in which the seeds of a future harvest are sown, 
and in which life and destiny are controlled — this 
eventful era is introduced to the direct influence of 
the purest moral and religious instruction. Heathen 
Rome, in the proudest day of her glory, never remit- 
ted her concern for the education of her youth. She 
felt that in her schools was to be achieved all that 
hope could expect or desire ; and with a morality de- 
fective in its principles, by the aid of this great lever 
she rose to the summit of earthly fame. We enjoy 
the means of far more elevating instruction. We can 
draw motives from the pure treasury of the Word of 
God in all its exalted hopes, momentous sanctions, and 
eternal retributions ; and we are encouraged to the 
faithful cultivation of these means by the promise of 
Him who gave them: "Train up a child in the way 
he should go, and when he is old he will not depart 
from it." This is as sure in philosophy as it is in 
Scripture. The proof of it is broadly spread out over 
the whole history of man. Although his native tend- 
encies are depraved and degenerate, this training, sir 
— a most emphatic word to denote the nature of the 
process — this training is constantly counteracting these 
tendencies. It persuades from degrading pursuits to 
exalted aspirations. When the heart would seek some 
groveling, earth-born good, that perishes as we grasp 
it, this points the desires to a portion in the heavens, 
pure, and satisfying, and perpetual, and, with the Di- 
vine blessing, the self-love of the heart is enlisted on 
.the side of virtue ; the mind perceives its profit as well 
as pleasure in the ways of wisdom, and habit adds the 
confirmation of a second nature to the dictates of truth 
and duty. 



I 



CONNECTION WITH BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 235 

" ' Wherefore, then, does the man illustrate the prin- 
ciples of virtue ? Sir, he has been trained up in the 
way he should go. The lessons read to him in child- 
hood were not only incentives to virtue, but his surest 
defenses against vice. They not only allured him to 
the right way, but effectually admonished him to shun 
the wrong way. I am fully aware that all this process 
would be fruitless without the blessing of God — that 
He is sovereign when He gives and when He with- 
holds. But I also know, sir, that it is His sovereign 
good pleasure to bless the faithful labors of His peo- 
ple ; that His faithfulness is pledged in the promise, 
"Them that honor me I will honor, and those that 
seek me early shall find me." 

" ' Mr. Chairman, if farther proof were needed, we 
might find it in the history of all the profane. Take 
any convict of your penitentiary, and his brief and sad 
biography would form an appropriate history for the 
great majority of his fellows in crime. Ask him, sir, 
what it was that brought him to his wretched dwell- 
ing-place, and he must reply, "I was trained up for it. 
I early broke away from the restraints of conscience. 
I had no kind friend to instruct me, or I despised his 
counsels. 

" ' "No mother's tender caro 
Shielded my infant innocence with prayer. 

From a youth I have defied my Maker. I thought it 
manly to blaspheme His sacred name. I made a mock 
at sin, entered the broad way of transgression, and 
disregarded the beacon lights that warned me of my 
danger. Such has been my training, and here I reap 
its bitter fruits. I ought not to be disappointed ; for 
from such a childhood and youth, who could expect 
other than such a doom?" Let us then, sir, assidu- 
ously cultivate these moral influences. Who that has 
the heart of a man can refuse them his best wishes? 
Sir, is it not of the last importance to have the sources 
of national prosperity pure, and the aims and pursuits 



236 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEN. 

of our people elevated ? and where but in the Bible 
shall we find the record of sound principles ? Permit 
me to say that the occasion was never more urgent for 
the friends of truth to send forth the healthful influ- 
ence of the Gospel. Sir, in this day of benevolent ac- 
tion, the enemies of God and man are not idle. The 
disciples of infidelity are striving with* sleepless effort 
to break down the defenses of religion and virtue. 
She has her ministers and her altars. Her votaries 
are assailing the citadel of truth with every weapon 
that promises the least infliction. They would blot 
out the Bible, and roll the wave of desolation over all 
that is dear to us as men and Christians. Then I 
would say to parents, as you love your children, and 
to statesmen, as you love your country, cherish this 
blessed enterprise. "Who would not rejoice to behold 
the pure spirit of religion pervading the whole mass 
of our population — these sacred rules of life inculca- 
ted and circulated in every valley, reaching to every 
mountain-top, and tracking the course of every mighty 
river of the West? Who does not desire that the 
hopes of immortality might animate every heart and 
fill every bosom through the whole breadth of the 
land ? 

" ' ISTothing besides can give stability to our institu- 
tions. Let us ponder with deep reflection, and cease 
not to repeat and reiterate the interesting truth that 
our boasted liberties will not long survive the wreck 
of our public morals. The destruction of the one will 
witness the passing away of the other. They will go 
down in melancholy companionship to the same grave. 
So the Father of his Country deemed, and with a pa- 
ternal solicitude counseled us. Mr. Chairman, I heard 
with heartfelt approbation the sentiment already elo- 
quently advanced and sustained, that the genius of 
our Constitution is propitious to the interests of the 
Sunday-school. It is true, sir. The pure spirit of re- 
publican liberty invokes its aid and cherishes its fel- 



CONNECTION WITn BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 237 

lowship, and he is nnfaitliful to liis country who would 
seek to impair its influence or check its progress.' 

"It was not the value of the Sunday-school as an 
instrument of enlightening and elevating the popular 
mind that formed its chief attraction in the view of 
Mr.Frelinghuysen, though he by no means underrated 
its efficiency for this purpose. But the influence of 
such a host of voluntary religious teachers, inculcating 
from week to week the simple central truths of Divine 
revelation, combined with the personal incidental con- 
nection which the teacher's office gave him with the 
pupil's famil}^, he regarded as of inestimable import- 
ance. ' I assure }- ou,' he says, in a private letter, dated 
June 17,1831, 'that it is grateful to me to be in any 
way connected with an institution which encourages 
so much hope for the welfare of our fellow-men for 
the world and for eternity.' 

"It is obvious, from many of the public declarations 
of his views, that Mr. Frehnghuj'-sen had very grave 
apprehensions concerning the endurance of our polit- 
ical frame-work through the prevalence' of ignorance 
and licentiousness. His spirits were oftentimes de- 
pressed and his hopes dimmed because of the appar- 
ent inadequacy of our moral forces to withstand the 
powers of darkness. His faith was steadfast in the. 
Divine promise, that ' when the enemy should come 
in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord would lift up a 
standard against him ;' but in the terrible conflict, 
what would become of our institutions of civil and re- 
ligious liberty ? 

" In such a mood, under date of August 1, 1832, he 
says : ' It is matter of frequent thankfulness to God, 
when there is so much of irreligion and licentiousness 
in our country to deplore, that we can turn to the Sab- 
bath-schools and Bible-classes, and there cherish the 
reviving hope that with these blessed influences we 
shall yet see better and brighter days.' In Novem- 
ber, 1833, Mr. Frelinghuysen advocated the cause of 



238 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

Sunday-schools in a public meeting in New York, but 
no report of his speech was preserved. 

"At the public meeting held at Philadelphia in 
connectionwith the eleventh anniversary of the Amer- 
ican Sunday - school Union, Mr. Frelinghuysen made 
an address of a very remarkable character. The res- 
olution in support of which the address was made was 
evidently framed with a view to urge the claims of 
Sunday-schools upon public attention, mainly, though 
by no means exclusively, because of their bearing on 
the political and social icelfare of the country ; and the 
tenor of his remarks coincides with this idea. It was 
in these words : 

" ' That Sunday-schools, by laying the foundation 
of public and private integrity and intelligence, pro- 
vide the best preservative of our rights and liberties, 
and the best guarantee for the peace and good order 
of society ; and that in this view they deserve the spe- 
cial patronage of the statesman and patriot.' 

"In enforcing the resolution he said: 

u i There are considerations connected with our 
country that present causes for melancholy apprehen- 
sion. The spirit of freedom, with all its rich benefits, 
is not without its dangers. Every mind in any meas- 
ure acquainted with its own operations knows that 
there are propensities within us which require control 
— that must be brought into subjection to wholesome 
regulations and discipline. 

" ' Now one startling danger lies in the very heart 
of our blessings. We are too proud of our liberties 
and of our country. Self-confidence is engendered, 
and a spirit of individual independence almost too 
strong for law. We are our own rulers, we boast. Po- 
litically, it is true. The fear is reasonable that we 
shall practically refuse or deny the authority even of 
our oiun rulers. There is a constant propensity to 
break away from all restraints. "Resistance," "lib- 
erty," "independence," "the rights of man," are so 



CONNECTION WITH BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 239 

familiar — and so grateful too, I grant — that we are 
prone to forget not only Him whose unspeakable good- 
ness has made us to differ, but to forget, also, that these 
animating terms, and the glow of patriotism, and the 
love of country, if not sustained and cherished by 
sound principles, will become the mere watchwords for 
licentiousness and all misrule. 

" 'I have not made this allusion, sir, for any pur- 
pose of severe censorship at this interesting season, 
when I would far rather mingle in the delightful sym- 
pathies that the occasion awakens ; but, sir, I have 
given the hint, that we may perceive the benignant 
influence of the Sabbath-school on this political tend- 
ency. Yes, sir, every patriot should bless God for this 
agency that so admirably befits the service — that so 
wisely and seasonably meets the w^ants of our country. 

" ' Opinion is, under heaven, become the arbiter of 
nations. Power is despoiled of all its mystified inci- 
dents and prerogatives. The spell of long-established 
systems, of hereditary orders, is broken ; and as the 
whole world is moving on from the quiet inaction of 
the one to the active, restless, and, I may add, feverish 
excitability of the other condition, what a public mer- 
cy was it that the Sunday-school should come up just 
as the elements began to quicken, and shed its health- 
ful, purifying, forming influences over whole masses 
of mind, that were destined either to help forward, or 
with dreadful energy desolate the hopes of piety and 
human happiness. 

" 'I certainly shall not depreciate other blessed in- 
strumentalities that adorn our age. I know that the 
p)ul2nt stands at the head of all means to save our 
world. God has exalted it to that noble elevation, and 
there let it stand, the advocate of truth, and the faith- 
ful witness of God ; the angel of His mercy, and the 
consolation of Plis people. I3ut in its connections with 
the stability of our political institutions — in the pres- 
ervation of the happiest and freest form of government 



240 LIFE OF FRELIXGHUYSEIT. 

in the world, the Sabbath-school falls not far behind 
the ministry. Indeed, it partakes much of its charac- 
teristics. It is itself a preacher of righteousness, and 
under most effective circumstances. 

" ' The faithful messenger of grace, as he ascends 
the pulpit and proclaims his Master's -will, meets a 
promiscuous congregation, whose numbers encourage 
all unseen resistance to indiscriminate warnings and 
exhortations. 

" 'But mark the Sunday-school teacher as he pours 
the light of truth on the hearts of his little charge with 
affectionate and lively solicitude : he often feels that it 
must tell on their consciences ; he almost reaches and 
touches the fountains of thought and sympathy. The 
seed may lie long buried, but herein is his hope : 
" Train up a child in the way he should go, and when 
he is old he will not depart from it." 

" ' He has another pledge. God has said, " My word 
shall not return to me void ;" and no matter what im- 
purity of motive may enter into the circulation of the 
truth, it shall accomplish all His gracious purposes. 

" ' The age on which this influence is exerted is the 
most propitious. Religion and the soundest philoso- 
phy of the mind alike assure us that the best mode 
of having the man as we wish is to train the child ; to 
purify the fountain, go up to the spring-head if we ex- 
pect a healthful stream. 

" ' The Sabbath-school approaches with its instruc- 
tions just when they will sink the deepest and last the 
longest. It makes a sacred deposit of the soundest 
rules of life, of public duty, of private conduct ; rules 
which form the faithful friend, the upright citizen, the 
godly man ; rules that will found our hopes on " the 
Rock of ages;" that will raise a shield to guard our 
dearest earthly privileges, and train up a generation 
that we may hope will defend the cause of truth and 
civil liberty when those who train them shall have 
done with the duties and the toils of time. 



CONNECTION WITH BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 241 

" ' Sir, such an agency is beyond all human estimates 
of its value. I would most cheerfully trust even the 
cold calculations of philosophy for an approving award 
in behalf of a system that, from /Sabbath to Sabbath^ 
brings more than twenty-five thousand teachers,* im- 
parting instruction from the very fountain of light and 
truth, and directing it upon more than one million of 
immortal minds, and this at the very season when im- 
pressions are more easily and deeply made. What 
madness of hard-hearted infidelity could doubt or op- 
pose such an influence ? 

" ' We want no verdict of the schools of philosophy. 
Every heart feels to-day its value. Here, as we call 
up from the stores of memory the recollections and 
associations of childhood, a thought dropped on the 
heart twenty, thirty, or forty years ago, rises to the 
mind ; and, as we perceive and feel how cleai\ and 
strong, and vivid it is — how fresh its impression, now 
hallowed by time — we all know by certain conclusive 
consciousness how unspeakably important are the les- 
sons of childhood. 

" ' Here it was a father's faithful counsels — there it 
was the silent eloquence of a mother's tears. They 
made a lodgment here that neither the follies nor the 
sins of after years could impair or remove. Lately I 
jead of a pious youth, who, on examination for the 
ministry, in the history of his life, at that interesting 
period of it when he trusted that he felt the power of 
religion, in some such terms as these referred to the 
leading means of his recovery to God. Said he, "I 
trace the causes, under God, to a mother's faithfulness 
to my childhood. Yes," said he, "the taking of my 
little hand within hers (I can almost feel it still), as 
she led me to the closet, where she poured out her 
soul for my salvation ; the sound of that dear voice as 
I would pass her chamber door as she wrestled witli 
the God of Jacob for her child; these— these," said 

* Now nearer 200,000. 



242 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEN. 

he, "I mark as among tlie effective means by wliicli 
the God of mercy led my soul to himself." 

" ' And the Sabbath-school is a kindred agency ; it 
ranges by the side of parental instruction ; and more 
than 50,000 witnesses of teachers and children con- 
verted to God from these nurseries of purity, demon- 
strate the blessed energy of this scheme of mercy. 

" ' Let every heart bid it God speed, and every hand 
be opened wide in its favor.' 

" The salutary tendencies of the institution in re- 
pressing the inroads of vice and misrule were so ob- 
vious to his mind that, if no other advantage could be 
derived from it, this of itself would warrant all the la- 
bor and expense involved in sustaining it. He saw 
that even then (and much more in these latter days) 
there was a gigantic work of correction and repression 
to be done in our land, which can be accomplished 
only by moral forces ; and not by them even, unless 
applied to the plastic minds and hearts of children and 
youth. The grand principle of subordination to law- 
ful authority — to God as supreme, and to every ordi- 
nance of man for the Lord's sake — must rule from the 
cradle to the grave. It is the only safeguard under 
such a government as ours, and, to secure its sujorema- 
cy, it must as surely begin at the cradle as it ends at 
the grave. 

"In December, 1836, Mr. Frelinghuysen was urged 
to enter upon the exclusive service of the American 
Sunday-school Union at a salary of $8000. A depu- 
tation was appointed to wait upon him and express 
the views and wishes of the Board. He listened pa- 
tiently for hours to the representations which were 
made ; manifested a deep sense of the importance of 
the proposition and of the responsibilities involved, 
and desired time for reflection. In the interview, how- 
ever, he intimated the conviction that the sphere of 
his influence, as a member of the bar, was quite as 
wide as he could wish and much wider than he could 



CONNECTION WITH BENEYOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 243 

fill ; and, after due consideration, he declined, on this 
ground, the proposed connection. 

"It was unfortunate for the success of the attempt 
to secure Mr. Frelinghuysen's services that the place 
he was to occupy was not more accurately defined. 
To one of his methodical habits and child-like sim- 
plicity, it was important that any service required of 
him should be so clearly set forth that he could at 
once determine whether he had the needful qualifica- 
tions for it, and whether the Providence of God called 
him to it. Of course, an invitation to fill a place 
without any specification of the duties to be perform- 
ed or the responsibilities incurred was not accepted. 
That such a connection would have been agreeable to 
his feelings had the way been properly prepared for 
it, the deputation had no doubt ; and that his greater 
professional influence and associations would have 
been no obstacle is apparent from the fact that in a 
few years thereafter he took the chancellorship of the 
'New York University. 

" In October, 18-i3, Mr. Frelinghuysen says, in a pri- 
vate letter, ' I love to cherish the Sabbath-school, and 
I continue my relations to it at this time as teacher of 
an interesting Bible-class. The number varies from 
ten to eighteen, composed of young men who have 
passed through the ordinary stages of Sunday-school 
instruction.' 

" Seven years after this he was called to the presi- 
dency of Eutger's College ; and in June of that year 
(1850) he thus expressed himself in response to a no- 
tice of his twenty-fourth election to the vice-presiden- 
cy of the American Sunday-school Union : 

" ' I feel honored by such an association with a 
blessed agency of the Divine goodness for our whole 
race. I have long been connected with its labors of 
love. Some of my most favored hours have been in 
the Sunday-school ; and my prayer is that God would 
enlarge its influence and extend its relations until ev- 
ery tribe and kindled shall bo reached.' 



244 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

" Meagre as are tliese memoranda of Mr. Freling- 
huysen's interest and public labors in this department 
of Christian benevolence, they suffice to show that as a 
disciple of Christ, a citizen, a statesman, and a philan- 
thropist, he embraced and held fast the Sunday-school 
as (in its proper sphere) one of the most efficient, wise, 
and economical agencies for the diffusion of religious 
knowledge, for the advancement of human happiness, 
and for the extension and prosperity of the Eedeem- 
er's kingdom, known to our age." 

AMERICAN TEMPERANCE UNION. 

Mr. Frelinghuysen at a very early period became 
connected with the movement made in this country 
for the discouragement of intemperance, and contin- 
ued throughout life a steadfast friend of the cause. 
Ardent spirits, and afterward wine, were banished from 
his table and his house as a beverage, and he never 
failed, on any proper occasion, to counsel others to pur- 
sue the same course. His speeches in favor of total ab- 
stinence from all that can intoxicate were innumera- 
ble, and pronounced before assemblies of all kinds and 
numbers, from a Congressional meeting in the hall of 
the House of Eepresentatives at Washington down to 
a neighborhood gathering in a country school-house. 

His advocacy of this cause was marked by two fea- 
tures characteristic of the man. One was his defer- 
ence to Scripture teaching. He gave no countenance 
to the impeachments of Divine truth and wisdom in 
which some overzealous speakers allowed themselves, 
but always planted his inculcation of the duty of ab- 
stinence upon the doctrine of Christian expediency as 
stated by the Apostle Paul. The other was the ab- 



CONNECTION WITH BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 245 

sence of harsh denunciation and invective. He spoke 
with meekness of wisdom. He knew that it is the 
soft word which breaketh the bone, and his intense 
earnestness was tempered and refined by Christian 
love. Hence even habitual drunkards were never 
alienated or embittered by the rebukes, in public or 
private, which his faithfulness led him to administer. 
The following letter from the Eev. Dr. Marsh fitly 
indicates the scope and character of his public efforts 
on behalf of this great moral reform : 

"Office of American Temperance Union,) 
July 30, 18G2. > 

" Eev. Dr. Chambers : 
"Dear Sir, — You ask from us at this office for 
some reminiscences of the Hon. Theodore Frelinghuy- 
sen, one of our late vice-presidents, and for a time chair- 
man of our executive committee, but now numbered, 
we beUeve, with that glorious company of redeemed 
ones who stand before the throne of God and the Lamb. 
My acquaintance with Mr. Frelinghuysen commenced 
in the winter of 1831-2 at Washington, where I was 
deputed by the American Temperance Society to ex- 
cite an interest for the temperance cause in gentlemen 
connected with the government. On propounding to 
him my views and objects, he at once gave me his 
friendship and support, introducing me to other gen- 
tlemen, and co-operating in a plan for a public Con- 
gressional temperance meeting in the Capitol. That 
meeting was held early in January. Governor Cass, 
then Secretary of War, presided ; and the meeting was 
addressed by the Hon. Felix Grundy, United States 
senator from Tennessee ; Mr. Frehngliuyscn, senator 
from New Jersey ; Hon. J. C. Bates, member of Con- 
gress from Massachusetts ; Hon. James M. Wayne, 
from Georgia ; and Hon. Daniel Webster, United States 
senator from Massachusetts. The assembly was large, 



246 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEN. 

and the meeting most impressive. The address of Mr. 
Frelinghuysen completely dissipated all the levity and 
hilarity with which such a meeting of the splendor 
and gayety of Washington was anticipated, and gave 
a tone of tenderness and solemnity in its portraiture 
of the personal and domestic evils of intemperance not 
easily forgotten. At subsequent Congressional meet- 
ings of a similar character, Mr. Frelinghuysen's voice 
was lifted up with great energy and power against the 
drinking usages of men in public stations, and when 
the Congressional Temperance Society was organized 
in 1833, he became chairman of the executive com- 
mittee, and, in connection with his most intim^ate 
friends, Hon. A. Naudain, of Delaware, Hon. John 
Blair, of Tennessee, Hon. George IST. Briggs, of Massa- 
chusetts, and Hon. Eleutheros Cook, of Ohio, he was 
instrumental of moulding a large portion of the Con- 
gress of that period to temperance principles. 

"On his removal to this city in 1841, he at once 
gladly co-operated with us in our labors, and accepted 
the appointment of chairman of our executive com- 
mittee, giving to ns as much of his time and counsel 
as his situation allowed. 

"Mr. Frelinghuysen was a thorough temperance 
man from principle. Devoting himself soul and body- 
to the service of God, he kept his body under that it 
might be a fit temple of the Holy Ghost ; but he held 
himself accountable for his influence upon others, and, 
seeing the awful ravages of intemperance, especially 
among men in the higher walks of life, in the legal 
profession, on the bench, and in Congress, he was re- 
solved to set an example which all men might follow 
with safety ; and in the stand he had taken from Chris- 
tian principle, he found himself wondrously strength- 
ened by his personal experience. In answer to a let- 
ter from Dr. Edwards, he said, 

" 'I have been favored with your circular request- 
ing the results of my experience in the matter of en- 



CONNECTION WITH BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 247 

tire abstinence from the use of intoxicating liquor, 
and especially as to its effects on health, on bodily and 
mental ability, and the feelings of the mind. I can, 
from personal experience, bear decided testimony to 
the happiest results, in all these particulars, arising 
from entire abstinence. For the last nine years I have 
wholly abstained from ardent spirits, and habitually 
from all fermented liquors. The last year, which has 
been the period in which I have relinquished even the 
occasional use of wine, I have enjoyed better health 
than in either of the nine. And it is an interesting 
and grateful fact to me that protracted and severe men- 
tal efforts can now be borne without loeariness^ bodily 
exercise and labor are refreshing, and the mind is far 
more cheerful, composed, and self-possessed than in 
the days of infatuation, when the spirits and wine cup 
met us on every sideboard, and assailed us at every 
table.' 

"It will be remembered that in the early stages of 
the temperance reformation wine and fermented drinks 
were not excluded. Soon, however, as it was under- 
stood that this exclusion was essential to the perfec- 
tion of the reformation, no man more heartily adopted 
it, and, as manifested in the above, with higher per- 
sonal enjoyment. As a speaker in temperance meet- 
ings, no individual was more acceptable, whenever his 
services could be obtained, than Mr. Frclinghuysen. 
The seriousness and earnestness of his manner, the 
honesty and firmness of his soul, and the softness of 
his tones, can never be forgotten. Ho put men who 
indulged their appetite to their own ruin and the ruin 
of others to shame, and made the hosts of temperance 
rally around their standard with the greatest earnest- 
ness and confidence of triumph. In the extraordinary 
reformation of inebriates in 1840-41, he felt the deep- 
est interest; and while he would use all moral influ- 
ence to reclaim the victims of the cup, no man was 
more decided in bringing legislation to b5ar upon the 



248 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

traffic, tlie direct cause of almost all the drunkenness 
and crime of the land. His opinions on this subject 
were well matured, and were expressed with great 
strength, and do demand the attention of every legis- 
lator in our land. If you have room, I wish you would 
give them a place in your memoir. I could give you 
several expressions of them, but one embodies them 
all — a letter to Eev. Dr. Edwards, in 1834, relating to 
the Sixth Annual Keport of the American Temper- 
ance Society, in which the system of license was ably 
discussed. In that letter he said, 

'"I have read with great satisfaction the Sixth An- 
nual Eeport of your society, and especially that por- 
tion of it between pages 44 and 69, on the immorality 
of authorizing by law the traffic in ardent spirit as a 
drink. It is almost unnecessary to say how fully and 
heartily I concur in the views and principles that are 
therein so ably sustained. If the use of ardent spirits 
be wrong, it seems to be a result of inevitable deduc- 
tion that the traffic in it is at least equally so. And 
hence, while many have ridiculed, I have always hon- 
ored the conduct of those persons who, under honest 
convictions of the evils of intemperance, have re- 
nounced all connection and terms with ardent spirits, 
hrohen in the head of the cash, and poured out the de- 
structive poison on the -ground. This was a noble 
tribute to principle that would not hesitate between 
the cold calculations of avarice, and the high claims of 
duty, and the peace of a pure conscience. How can a 
just mind engage in a commerce all the details of 
which are fruitful of evil ? 

" 'The use of ardent spirit is attended by peculiar 
circumstances. It is not an ordinary and harmless 
beverage, as to which every man may be safely trust- 
ed with his own keeping, but it is an insidious and 
dangerous practice, that gradually forms an artificial 
and deprayed appetite. It deranges and inflames the 
whole organic system of the body, aggravates instead 



CONNECTION WITH BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 249 

of allaying thirst, and creates an inward craving that 
has, in some cases, seemed to me like the gnawings of 
despair. 

'' ' And, worse still, this habit relaxes the hold of 
good principles by impairing the moral sense. A 
man's self-respect falls among its first victims. These 
sad results are confined to no class or condition. The 
strong men and the feeble are equally exposed to its 
ravages. The truth is (and every grave-yard proves 
it), the man w^ho habitually drinks ardent spirit, no 
matter lioio temperatehj^ has cause to tremble, for his 
danger is not only real, but imminent. 

'"To a subject, therefore, of such pecuhar and dread- 
ful energy, reaching so far and assailing so many in- 
terests, we must apply peculiar remedies. It is mere 
tampering with temptation to come short of positive, 
decided, and uncompromising opposition. We must 
not only resist^ we must drive it. To stand on the de- 
fensive merely is to aid in its triumph. 

" ' The second inquiry which you have proposed 
presents one of the most interesting questions of pub- 
lic duty. The ground taken in your report is, be- 
yond all serious controversy, among the clearest and 
soundest conclusions of right reason : "That the laws 
which authorize the traffic in ardent spirit as a drink, 
by licensing men to pursue it, are morally wrong." 

" 'Law-makers are, of all men, bound to seek the 
public good. So broad is this duty, that they are un- 
der peculiar obligations to consecrate the influence of 
a pure and personal example to the promotion of the 
general welfare ; but, first of all, should their legisla- 
tion he 2nire; not only preventive of evil, but persua- 
sive to good. No man fit to represent a free people 
will deny these propositions. Then what can we urge 
in excuse for the countenance given to the use of ar- 
dent spirit on almost every statute-book? On one 
page you will read of heavy penalties denounced 
against drunkenness, riots, and public disorders, and 

L2 



250 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

the next chapter authorizes the retail of the very poi- 
son which, all admit, brings on these outbreaking 
transgressions. Who can reconcile these glaring con- 
tradictions ? It is time, every reflecting mind ex- 
claims, it is high time to emancipate ourselves from 
these humiliating practices. The use of ardent spirit 
has introduced a course of reasoning and conduct that 
libels human nature. Who can dwell upon it with- 
out feelings of shame, that we should have gravely 
provided, by public law, that if men will ])ay for the 
mischievous faculty, they may set up a tavern, and sell 
as much rum as they please, short of drunkenness; 
may scatter firebrands and death all around them ; 
beguile unwary youth, and poison the very fountains 
of moral purity, and inflict an amount of injury on the 
vital interests of the community that neither time nor 
law can repair. 

" 'I rejoice, my dear sir, that you are endeavoring 
to bring this subject before the scrutiny of public men. 
You can not fail in a purpose so fraught with bene- 
fits. We owe it to our history, to our free institutions, 
and, above all, we owe it to Him whose benignant 
providence has so richly blessed us, that we purify our 
laws. And if men will engage in this destructive 
traffic — if they will stoop to degrade their reason and 
reap the wages of iniquity, let them no longer have 
the laiv-hooli as a pillow, nor quiet conscience by the 
opiate of a court license. 

" 'I am persuaded that the course of past legislation 
has greatly increased the evil of which we complain. 
How could it be otherwise? Men can hardly avoid 
looking up to the halls of legislation for standards of 
duty ; they expect to find models there that may be 
safely followed ; and when these high places have de- 
liberately sanctioned the use of ardent spirits when 
under legal regulations^ the conclusion has been natu- 
ral and prompt that, when it was clothed in these le- 
gal forms, it was not only excusable, but lawful. Men 



CONNECTION WITH BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 251 

would not take time to question the moral power of a 
Legislature to make that right which God declares to 
be wrong. The lamented fact has been, they did not 
wish to believe in any defect of power ; they loved to 
have it so, and accordingly reposed on the plausible 
authority of a positive statute. 

"'I trust and pray that light will very soon become 
strong enough to expose all these delusions, and that, 
by your laudable efforts and the blessing of God, our 
public men, our state and national Legislatures, with 
the whole body of our people, will address to this sub- 
ject the just and deep reflection that it deserves, and 
will, with heart and hand, by one combined and bless- 
ed effort, shake off forever the bondage under which 
our land has groaned.' 

^' On the adoption of the Prohibitory Law by Maine 
and other New England states in 1851, 1854, and 1855, 
he made an address before the Kew Jersey State So- 
ciety at- Kew Brunswick, endorsing the whole, and 
commending it most warmly to his fellpw-citizens. 
The impression was most happy. But his most fer- 
vent prayer was that the ministry and the churches of 
our land might clear themselves from all participation 
of guilt in the existence and spread of intemperance, 
both for their own sake, and that the greatest hinder- 
ance to the conversion of sinners, the spread of the 
Gospel, and the evangelization of the world might 
speedily be removed. 

" We all, sir, have reason to bless God that we have 
had a Frelinghuysen among us ; that he has been as- 
sociated with us ; that he has taught us how to bear 
scoffings and revilings, how to breast opposition, how 
to persevere amid trials and disappointments, and how 
to cast all our care upon Him who careth for us, and 
will finally cause His people to triumph in every place 
to His own glory. 

" Fearing I have written you too long a letter, yet 
having much more to say, I am yours respectfully, 

"John Marsh, Cor. Sec. A. T. U." 



252 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE CLOSING SCENE. 

Origin of his Sickness. — Fear of Death. — Fear overcome. — Profound 
Humility. — Submission. — Temptations. — Bemembi-ances. — Inter- 
view with Dr. Campbell. — AdAice to a Youth. — Desire to Depart. 
— ^The peaceful End. 

During the greater part of his life Mr. Frelinghny- 
sen enjoyed good health. In the latter portion of it 
his constitution became impaired, and constant care 
was required to keep him in working condition. He 
felt especially the need of exercise in the open air, and 
this he was accustomed to take with great regularity. 
But the weather during the winter of 1861-62 was 
unfavorable for this purpose, especially to a man of 
his years. There were frequent falls of snow ; and al- 
though no large quantity fell at any one time, yet 
there was enough to cover the ground, and when, aft- 
er partially thawing, it froze, the roads and paths were 
coated with ice, and the walking became very unsafe. 
Mr. Frelinghuysen was thus cut off from his usual and 
necessary outdoor rambles, and, in consequence, the 
general tone of his system was lowered. About this 
time the proclamation of President Lincoln was issued, 
recommending the people to meet in their usual places 
of public assemblage on the anniversary of Washing- 
ton's birthday, and attend the reading of the Farewell 
Address of the Father of his Country. The second 
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in New Bruns- 



CLOSING SCENE. 25 



Q 



wick, tlie one in wliicli Mr. Frelingliuysen regularly 
worsliiped, was opened on that day, and he attended 
the services. But the day was a chilly one, and the 
house imperfectly warmed, so that he took a severe 
cold. He employed the remedies to which he had 
been accustomed, and enjoyed the benefit of skillful 
medical attendance ; but, although the disease was 
subdued, his stomach began to fail, and he became un- 
able to retain any nourishment. First one kind of 
food was rejected, and then another, until the whole 
list was exhausted, and he could take nothing but stim- 
ulants. At last even these were nauseated, and then, 
of course, the end drew rapidly on. 

In the earlier period of his sickness he had no ap- 
prehension of a fatal issue, and even when the symp- 
toms became more formidable he still cherished the 
hope that he should not die, but live, and labor still 
longer in the Master's vineyard. But at the com- 
mencement of the last fortnight the issue became very 
clear to his mind, and he looked death steadily in the 
face. Here occurred one of the most delightful sur- 
prises of his life. 

During his whole previous career he had been, 
through fear of death, subject to bondage. It was 
not, as has been the case with many eminent Chris- 
tians, that he dreaded dying, the physical act, the un- 
known pang which attends the article of dissolution. 
His apprehensions went deeper than this. It was 
death itself which alarmed him, the cessation of this 
earthly sojourn, where the means of grace are enjoy- 
ed, and there is time and room for securing the salva- 
tion of the soul. Death introduces man into the pres- 



254 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

ence of his Judge and the retributions of eternity. He 
feared that when this occurred he would not be found 
prepared, but make shipwreck of his soul. Ko one 
else shared in the least in these apprehensions, and he 
himself could not justify them when calmly studying 
the case in view of the Savior's finished work and the 
Father's everlasting covenant. Still the fear remain- 
ed, or, if for a time removed, it would recur again, and 
make death a hideous thing to his soul. Thus, just 
before the worst symptoms of his disease appeared, he 
had passed a tolerable night, and awoke in the morn- 
ing refreshed and encouraged, when one of his nieces 
coming into the room, he said to her, "Ah ! it is a sol- 
emn thing to be so near eternity." She replied, "We 
indeed feel that, but it should not seem so to you." 
To this his answer was, "Yes; but my shortcomings — 
my shortcomings !" The sense of his own sinfulness, 
the imperfections of his life, the vast distance between 
what he was and what he ought to be, ever pressed 
upon his mind, and overshadowed the fullness of that 
grace which alone can furnish a basis of hope to any 
enlightened mind. It was not because he expected 
to attain heaven by works and saw their insufficiency, 
but because he knew we must be born again in order 
to enter the kingdom of God, and it seemed to him as 
if his defects of obedience proved that he had not ex- 
perienced the great change. 

But, whatever be the precise origin or ground of his 
distressing apprehensions, they all disappeared at once 
and forever in the closing weeks of his life. For near- 
ly half a century he had been carrying this grievous 
burden, which reason and faith seemed alike unable to 



CLOSING SCENE. 255 

throw off, but when the hour came, the burden, like 
Christian's at the wicket-gate, fell away of itself, and 
he saw it no more. He entered into the full assurance 
of faith and of hope. Not a cloud lingered in his sky. 
Faith performed its perfect work. Love was kindled 
into ecstasy. Beams from the heavenly glory played 
around his bedside, and his face was as if illumined by 
the aureola of the saints. This calm and sweet peace 
which diffused itself through his soul was not the 
dream of delirium, nor the excitement of fever, nor 
the rebound of tensely-strung nerves. It had no earth- 
ly or physical cause. It was the release which the 
Lord might be expected to bestow on his faithful serv- 
ant, in anticipation of the unbounded liberty of the 
upper skies. Perhaps it had been needful, as part of 
the restraining discipline called for by the temptations 
of his life, that such a devoted Christian should walk 
so long in this bondage ; but now, when the end' was 
so near, when he had finished his course and con- 
cluded Jiis warfare, it seemed good to the Lord to 
crown the holy and useful life with a happy and tri- 
umphant death. The dying man himself never grew 
weary of expatiating on the marvelous change, and 
praising the grace which had wrought it. 

His profound and unaffected humility was often ex- 
hibited. He had nothing to say of his past life — that 
life so full of faith, love, charity, so pure, and simple, 
and stainless, so honorable to the Gospel, and so bless- 
ed to man. It had been, in the ordinary acceptation 
of the term, "a well-spent life;" one which, all things 
considered, has rarely been equaled in our own age or 
any other ; yet no part of his peace, comfort, or hope 



256 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

was derived from looking back upon it, upon its years 
crowded with deeds of usefulness and continually ad- 
vancing in holiness. His own oft-repeated words were, 
"I am nothing — nothing at all, only a poor sinner 
saved by grace." Not the thief who hung by the Sav- 
ior's side — not the outcast saved so as by fire, depend- 
ed more simply or more entirely upon the riches of 
free grace than did this honored Christian philanthro- 
pist, who was crowning a long life of active godliness 
with a death of serene triumph. 

One of the greatest trials caused by death was the 
parting it involved from friends on earth. He was 
surrounded by a large circle of kindred and connec- 
tions, in whom he took a deep interest, to whom he 
was always a faithful and unwearied friend, and by 
whom he was regarded with an affectionate reverence 
which it is not easy to describe. To these his house 
and his heart were always open, and it was one of his 
highest earthly pleasures to enjoy their society. But 
as the end drew on, the ties which bound here below 
were sensibly relaxed, and he looked forward with 
greater desire to the heavenly rest. This result was 
accelerated by his bodily sufferings, which were pro- 
tracted and at times very severe. Once, on being told 
that he seemed to suffer much, he replied, " Yes ; how 
glad I shall be to rest this weary head on my Savior's 
bosom, to tell Hka how often I have grieved Him, and 
to speak of all His mercies to me." 

The following more detailed account of what occur- 
red in his sick-room has been kindly furnished by one 
who was present : 



CLOSING SCENBw 257 

"My dear Sir, — I take the first opportunity to 
give, as requested, some account of the closing scene 
of Mr. Frelinghuysen's life. To that I must confine 
myself, or I become his eulogist. I knew him as well 
as one man ever knew another, and I found in him 
less to condemn and more to admire than in any other 
man I ever knew. Nature had done much for him 
in his person, his voice, his mien, his genial, high-toned 
piety, in the easy play of his emotions, and in his gift 
of eloquence. 

"Education, intellectual and social, did much for 
him. At school, in college, in his profession, in the 
councils of the nation, and as the head of literary in- 
stitutions, he seems always to have been placed where 
the powers of a naturally strong and comprehensive 
mind could be advantageously developed ; while at 
the home of his boyhood, as well as at his own family 
circle, he was always surrounded by those refining in- 
fluences which do so much to purify taste and elevate 
sentiment. But it was to grace that he was the great- 
est debtor ; its renewing and sanctifying influence was 
constantly observable in his life ; and if I were asked 
what one thing did most to make him w^hat he was, I 
would answer that it was his inflexible, undeviating 
habit of daily communion with his God. It was as 
his character assimilated to that of our Savior that he 
was most admirable. 

"Pardon me, it was some account of his death-scene 
you desired. You are aware that Mr. Frclinghuysen 
had always been much afraid of death. Not that he 
was a coward ; for what he did not dare to do, which 
was right to be done, no man would ever dare to do. 
His dread of death arose from his appreciating better 
than many others the fearful responsibilities of the 
change from time to eternity, and from the fact that 
while grace to live by had been freely given him, he 
had not yet received to his satisfaction dying grace. 

" I had visited him several times after he was taken 



258 LIFE €)F FEELINGHUYSEF. 

sick, and wlien he was still able to move about in his 
room. About ten days before his death he made the 
first allusion to any impression that this might be his 
last sickness. He then said, ' I feel that matters are 
coming to a close with me. I can not bear this dis- 
ease much longer.' On being told that there was a 
prospect of his recovery, he said, ' Perhaps so ;' and 
then exclaimed, ' How gracious God in Christ is ! and 
I feel happy in hearing Him say, Come up, come up.' 
On being prayed with, he expressed the pleasure which 
extemporaneous prayers, coming from the heart, gave 
him. 

"In conversation I said to him, 'You were always 
much afraid of death, but seem now to contemplate its 
approach calmly.' He said that that fear had been re- 
moved, and that, some weeks before, God had placed 
in his way some beautiful lines [by a living English 
writer, Mrs. A. L.Waring], the spirit of which he fully 
felt. He then -repeated them to me: 

I love to think that God appoints 

My portion day by day ; 
Events of life are in His hand, 

And I would only say, 
"Appoint them in thine own good time, 

And in thine own best way. 

"All things shall mingle for my good, 
I would not change them if I could, 

Nor alter Thy decree. 
Thou art above and I below. 
Thy will be done, and even so. 

For so it pleaseth Thee." 

" The last week of his life I was constantly with 
him. He was always cheerful, sometimes indulging 
in pleasantry, in alluding to old anecdotes and scenes, 
and he never for a moment doubted his entire safety 
in the Eedeemer. His interest in the affairs of time 
continued, and he frequently spoke about the condi- 
tion of the country ; but his views on that subject, as 
he had retired from the political world, I will withhold. 



CLOSING SCENE. 259 

"It was an interesting feature of Lis last days tliat 
lie Lad almost constantly, night and day, by Lis bed- 
side, four persons, the Leads of families, two gentlemen 
and two ladies, wLom Le Lad befriended in tLeir or- 
pLanage ; not alone by pecuniary aid — no, tLat is tLc 
least worthy of note. He Lad been to tLem a true fa- 
tLer, loving, counseling, caring for tLem, continuing 
Lis interest tLrougL life, looking upon tLeir cLildren 
as Lis, to tLem all giving Lis dying benedictions and 
prayers. One of tLese, an accomplisLed and most in- 
teresting CLristian lady, on one occasion wLen Le was 
restless, leaned over tLe bed, took Lis Land, and witL 
a voice full of melody, quietly repeated to Lim tLe 
twenty-tLird Psalm, ' TLe Lord is my SLepLerd,' etc. 
' May God bless you !' was tLe response of tLe aged 
saint. It was a beautiful scene. I tLougLt, wLilo 
standing tLere, witL wLat exquisite tenderness God 
makes return to tLe benevolent man for eacL gener- 
ous act. 

" AnotLcr of tLe four persons alluded to was a skill- 
ful pLysician, wLo by nigLt and day, witL unremit- 
ting attention, nursed and cared for Lis benefactor. 
He kissed Lim farewell. lie performed tLe last offices 
of friendsLip, and tLen stood unmanned beside tLe re- 
mains of Lim wLo took care of Lim wLen an orpLan 

" I Lad frequent conversations witL Lim. At one 
time wLen Le was restless, and tLe family were sent 
for, tlie last twelve verses of tLe eiglitL cLaptcr of tLc 
Epistle to tLc Komans were read to him. After pray- 
er, Le called me to the head of his bed, for he was very 
weak, and said that Satan was tempting him to doubt 
the divinity of the Savior; suggesting that the disci- 
ples performed miracles, and therefore the fact that 
Christ performed them was no evidence that he was 
God. He said that he met the suggestion by saying 
to the tem2:)ter that the disciples could not have pos- 
sessed the power to work miracles, because Christ 



260 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEN". 

never gave it to them; tliat power He held in His 
own hands. They performed miracles in the name 
of Jesus of ISTazareth, but Christ by His own power. 
' Oh,' said he, ' it is a precious Gospel. It is the value 

of my soul. It is now my stay. Study it, my , 

study it, day and night. It is solemn for me, on the 
verge of eternity, to be thus urging you. I should 
like to talk more, but am too weak.' On being told 
that it would be strange if, in his weak state, he met 
with no temptations, he said, ' When I am tempted, I 
go to the promises from Genesis to Eevelation, and 
from Eevelation to Genesis. I seem to know them 
all.' 

" To another gentleman of mature years, whom Mr. 
Frelinghuysen had cared for and educated, he said, 
' This is a trying hour, but the Lord has sustained me. 
He promised that He would, and He always will do 
it.' Then bidding him farewell, he expressed the hope 
that they would all meet in heaven. 

"One of the leading members of the ISTew Jersey 
bar called to ask after his health, and told me that it 
was to Mr. Frelinghuysen's conversations with him, as 
they walked in the morning together when attending 
court at Trenton, that he attributed his first religious 
impressions. When this was repeated to Mr. Freling- 
huysen, he replied, ' Those are precious remembran- 
ces.' 

" One day, as we were leaving his room to go to 
dinner, some one pleasantly said, ' Uncle, we wish you 
could take dinner with us.' 'Ah! my son,' he re- 
plied, ' I am going to eat of the bread and drink of 
the wine of everlasting life.' 

"A day or two before he died, the Rev. Dr.W. H. 
Campbell, who afterward became his successor as pres- 
ident of Rutger's College, called on him. I was not 
present during the whole interview, and, as I came 
into the room, I beheld what was to me a striking 
scene. Dr. Campbell held the almost dying man by 



CLOSING SCENE. 261 

tlie liancl, and, tbetears coursing rapidly down Lis face, 
said, with a cheerful, manly voice, ' Farewell, Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen, farewell. I expect soon to join you. I 
shall not remain long here. Farewell, sir.' ' Fare- 
well, my friend,' was the reply ; ' but you must stay 
here. God has a work for you, and you. will yet ac- 
complish great good.' Then, as the reverend gentle- 
man left the room, he said to one standing by his bed, 
' You do not know that man ; he is an honest, manly 
Christian.' 

" Afterward, a youth of about seventeen years, the 
son of a friend, called, at Mr. Frelinghuysen's request, 
to see him. ' I have sent for you, my son,' said he. 
' I want you to see how a Christian can die. I have 
been all my life in fear of that hour, and yet for seven 
weeks I have seen death day by day approaching, and 
never was calmer. Did you ever see me more calm ?' 
Receiving no answer, he repeated the question, and 
then receiving a reply in the negative, continued, 
' JSTow, my son, do not despise pa];^nts' prayers, moth- 
ers' tears, and sisters' supplications, but turn unto God. 
Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. 
Seek the Lord, and you will find Him ; despise Ilim, 
and He is a consuming fire. He has not come away 
from heaven and died upon earth to be lightly reject- 
ed. I have here a little keepsake for you ; it is the 
Bible from Genesis to Revelation, published by the 
American Bible Society. I don't want to exact from 
you a rigorous promise, but I do want you to say that, 
by God's grace, you will try to do what I have done. 
For fifty — no, forty -five years, I have made it a rule, 
at noon, or as near to it as I could — perhaps there 
would not be an opportunity before tea-time — to read 
a chapter in the Bible, and spend fifteen minutes in 
private devotion. My son, farewell. Go now, and 
seek God's grace.' 

"On one occasion, when he seemed to suffer, I asked 
what it was that troubled him. He replied, 'When I 



262 LIFE OF frelinghuyse:n-. 

was a boj, I went to see Grandma Sardenberg wlien 
she was sick, and asked her how she did, and she said 
to me, " Schilde, I want to go home, and they won't 
let me." ' With that anecdote, he seemed to consider 
that my inquiry as to what troubled him was an- 
swered. 

" At another time, one present said to him that he 
had been enabled to do much good in life, and that 
should be a comfort to him now. And then was read 
to him that part of the twenty-fifth chapter of Mat- 
thew's Gospel, in which the King is represented as 
saying to those on his right hand, ' Come, ye blessed 
of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you 
from the foundation of the world. For I was an hun- 
gered, and ye gave me meat ; I was thirsty, and ye 
gave me drink,' etc., etc. But he said that his only 
plea was, ' God be merciful to me a sinner.' When re- 
minded that those on the right hand used the same 
language, saying, ' When saw we Thee an hungered, 
and fed Thee? or thirsty, and gave Thee drink?' etc., 
he made no reply, but shook his head. He took much 
pleasure in listening to the parable of the Prodigal 
Son, recorded in the fifteenth chapter of Luke. 

" The attending physician came into the room at a 
time when he was very low, and he said, 'This, I think, 
doctor, is my last struggle ; and it is all peace^ — Christ 
is precious.' The doctor replied that we could do 
nothing without Christ. ' Yes,' said Mr. Frelinghuy- 
sen, ' I often said that, but did not realize it. Now I 
feel it. Christ has opened to me the truth. If there 
had been no sin, we should not have known how gra- 
cious God is.' 

" He had, during the last week of his life, many in- 
teresting interviews which I have not referred to. He 
suffered but little. His mind was perfectly uncloud- 
ed. He made every arrangement for his departure. 
He spent hours in endeavoring to reconcile his true 
wife to their separation. He frequently through the 



CLOSING SCENE. 263 

day asked tliat a short prayer might be offered. ELis 
faith was firm and confident. 

" On the morning of the 12th of April it was man- 
ifest that he was sinking, and I, who had so often en- 
deavored to cheer him when he was desponding, said, 
without fear of alarming him, ' You can live but a lit- 
tle while longer. You are almost gone. You may 
possibly live two or three hours, but probably not so 
long.' He asked if that was the opinion of the phy- 
sicians. I told him that it was. He then took leave 
of the family and friends. The physician to whom I 
have referred as benefited when an orphan by him, 
and myself, kissed him farewell. I then asked him, 
' Is it peace with you now ?' He answered, ' All 
peace, more than ever before.' Shortly afterward he 
expired. ' Mark the perfect man, and behold the up- 
right, for the end of that man is peace.' " 



264 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 



CHAPTER XIY. 

CONCLUSION. 

The Gift of God. — Mr. Frelinghuysen's Completeness of Character. — 
General Recognition of it. — Proven by Trial. — Theme of Gratitude 
to God. — Encouragement to others. — A Proof of Christianity. — 
An Example of cheerful Piety. — Its fundamental and characteris- 
tic Element. 

At a large meeting held in IS-i-i to ratify the Whig 
nominations for national offices, Governor Lumpkin, 
of Georgia, pleasantly played upon Mr. Frelinghuy- 
sen's Christian name, Theodore, which, according to 
its origin, means gift of God^ saying that this eminent 
Christian statesman was God's gift to the nation for 
the office of Yice-president. The result showed that 
this was an error, the fond anticipation of a political 
and personal friend, who thought that one who com- 
bined so many excellencies of character could not be 
defeated if fairly brought before the popular eye. 
Still the playful suggestion had an element of truth, 
although in a different application from that which 
the eminent civilian who made it intended. Theo- 
dore Frelinghuysen was the gift of God to the Amer- 
ican people ; not for the temporary occupation of any 
office, however dignified or important, nor for the ac- 
complishment of any civil or secular aims, however 
lofty, but for a bright and shining example of the 
thorough and consistent Christian in all the walks of 
life, public and private. 



CONCLUSION. 265 

There are many blanieless believers on earth of 
whom the world is not worthy, but they are usually 
found either in the ministry or in private life; but 
here was a man whose necessary avocations led him 
into the whirl of business and politics, who was thrown 
into contact with all classes of society, who passed 
through prolonged scenes of the highest excitement, 
who took his full share of the duties devolving upon 
educated and professional men under the popular in- 
stitutions of our country, and yet never once abated 
from the strictness of a holy life, never once gave oc- 
casion for unfriendly observers to bring a charge of 
inconsistency. Not that he was, or claimed to be, per- 
fect ; he had infirmities, as he himself was painfully 
conscious, both while he lived and when he came to 
die ; but all who knew him would, with one voice, de- 
clare that they never saw the man who had so few. 

His life was long, extending several years beyond 
the ordinary limit. It was, for the most part, a very 
active one, spent in arduous and engrossing employ- 
ments. It was varied, leading him into many differ- 
ent circumstances and associations ; yet throughout 
it was the life of " a good man and a just." He was 
not excellent at one time or in one relation onl}^, but 
at all times and in every relation. Intimate friends, 
casual acquaintances, and those who knew him only 
by observation, all had but one opinion respecting 
him. His prominent connection with great enter- 
prises in which Christians at large took a deep inter- 
est, rendered his name familiar to all the people of 
God in this land, and multitudes who never saw his 
face in the flesh looked up to him with alTectionate 

M 



266 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

reverence as a tried and chosen leader of the sacra- 
mental host. They mourned his death as a public ca- 
lamity, and felt the stroke as keenly as if it were a 
personal bereavement. The keenness of their regret 
was not owing to their lack of full information on the 
subject ; he for whose removal they sorrowed was 
one who did not loom largest when seen at a distance, 
but was more highly appreciated the longer and bet- 
ter he was known. Lofty as the figure seemed when 
seen through the mists of current lejDorts, it lost none 
of its stately proportions when viewed standing in the 
clear sunlight of close personal knowledge. Perhaps 
there were no more hearty admirers of his character 
than the friends of his boyhood, residing in his native 
county, who had watched his career from the begin- 
ning to the end. One of these was present at his fu- 
neral, and heard the just and touching eulogy pro- 
nounced over the remains of the deceased by the Eev. 
Dr. De Witt ; but, after the services were over, he ex- 
claimed, with tears in his eyes," All that the speaker 
said was true, but oh! he did not tell the half; it is 
only we who have seen that man at home in his every- 
day life who know his real worth." 

That worth was not a mere negative excellence ; it 
was not simply the absence of common faults, but the 
possession of rare virtues exercised for a great length 
of time, and amid manifold and searching temptations. 
The more the gold was tried, the purer it was found. 
He passed through the furnace of political life at the 
national capital, and came out without even the smell 
of fire upon him. Boy and man, advocate and sena- 
tor, chancellor and president, church member and 



CONCLUSION. 267 

churcli officer, citizen and Christian, he bore his facul- 
ties so meekly, and discharged his duties so faithfully, 
that even the breath of slander never tarnished his es- 
cutcheon. There is nothing in his course or charac- 
ter which needs excuse or even explanation. The en- 
tire career speaks for itself. Men might differ from 
him in political opinions, in religious belief, or in mi- 
nor questions, but none ever doubted the solid integ- 
rity of his principles, or the perfect conscientiousness 
of his life. 

Many men have been quite as distinguished as he 
in professional and political life ; many, too, have been 
just as eminent for Christian consistency, but very 
few, if any, have ever united the two kinds of distinc- 
tion so thoroughly and successfully. As a civilian, 
statesman, and patriot, he did his full duty on the 
earth, yet held perpetual communion with God in 
heaven. He commanded respect by his intellectual 
gifts and attainments, yet won universal love and con- 
fidence by his meekness of wisdom. True to his cli- 
ents, to his party, and to his country, he was also true 
to the Gospel and the Cross in every situation. He 
was not a different man at different times, combining, 
as it were, by mechanical cohesion, two opposite 
spheres of character and conduct — in one company or 
place the zealous Christian, in another the busy poli- 
tician or lawyer ; but his religious faith interpenetrated 
his whole life, and gave to it its characteristic tone. 
He was just as much a Christian in the court-room, or 
on the floor of the Senate, or at the hustings, as in his 
closet, or the Sunday-school, or a prayer - meeting. 
While never parading, he never cloaked his convic- 



268 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

tions. Instead of being held loosely, they were a part 
of himself, and could not be hid. Wherever he went, 
whatever he did, an exquisite combination of justice 
and goodness, of intelligence and meekness, of wisdom 
and love, 

Eose like a steam of rich distilled perfumes, 
And stole upon the air. / 

Such a life as the preceding pages have imperfectly 
unfolded calls for profound gratitude to Him who has 
been pleased in our generation to erect such a pre- 
cious memorial of the ennobling and sanctifying pow- 
er of His heavenly grace. An eminently good man, in 
any relation of life, is a great gift of God to those who 
behold the rays of the burning and shining light ; but 
especially is this the case when the good man lives 
long, has wide influence, is extensively known, passes 
through trial and temptation, is uniformly consistent, 
is destitute of eccentricities, is actively useful as well 
as passively blameless, mingles in public and promi- 
nent scenes, avoids even the appearance of evil, and 
perseveres to the very end — that end fitly crowning 
the work. Such was Theodore Frelinghuysen ; and 
what he was God made him. Providence did much 
for him in bestowing his fine bodily presence, his 
plaintive but melodious voice, his penetration and sa- 
gacity, his dignified station, his winning personal ad- 
dress ; but grace wrought far more in moulding such 
an elevated Christian character, so spiritual, humble, 
and uniform, so sweetly blending the virtues of con- 
templation and of action, so full of love to God and 
love to man, so prominent in the features which are 



CONCLUSION. 269 

distinctively evangelical, so complete and harmonious 
in outline and detail. 

Such a life is full of encouragement and stimulus to 
all the children of God. It presents an exalted pic- 
ture of human excellence, yet one exactly propor- 
tioned to the means and agencies employed. Al- 
though far exceeding the ordinary standard of believ- 
ers, it does not transcend what they are taught to aim 
at and expect. Given in any case the same habits of 
faith, conscientiousness, and prayer, the same result 
might be looked for, modified only by the differences 
of temperament and situation. All Mr. Frelinghuy- 
sen's natural advantages in constitution, birth, train- 
ing, and position, would have amounted to but little 
but for the grace which was given him. It was this 
rich grace, so perseveringly sought, so largely received, 
and so carefully cherished, which made him what he 
was. This was his own life-long profession, sealed 
and confirmed over and over as he lay upon his death- 
bed. That grace has not exhausted its stores ; there 
is enough yet to advance the whole Church perma- 
nently to the high position held by him, who, when 
he died, left behind him no equal in the completeness 
of his Christian character. If any fall short, it is not 
because they are straitened in God, but because of 
their own remissness. 

To unbelievers in the Christian religion, Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen's life presents an insoluble problem. His 
lofty and stainless integrity was, as has been said, ac- 
knowledged universally. There is literally no dis- 
senting voice. No public man has ever lived in this 
country respecting whom so many persons would 



270 LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN. 

unite in saying tliat they never knew any one wlio so 
nearly approached perfection in all the relations of 
life as he ; yet this man habitually ascribed whatever 
excellence he was enabled to exhibit to the Gospel of 
the grace of God. Nor was this mere prejudice, or 
the force of education, or the result of fanatical excite- 
ment, but the conviction of a mind eminently cool, 
cautious, and collected, accustomed to weighing evi- 
dence, wont to take comprehensive views of things, 
and always swayed by what appeared to be the truth. 
If, then, he made no mistake in the matter — and mis- 
take is hardly possible in the circumstances — his life 
was a genuine product of Christianity, and the fruit, 
according to an invariable law, testifies to the character 
of the tree which bears it. A baseless system could 
not have produced such an illustrious example of pub- 
lic and private virtue. Whether Christianity be deem- 
ed a delusion, or an imposture, or a gradual hardening 
of mythical elements into a fixed belief, it must have 
lacked the power to shape a character so pure, com- 
plete, and rounded. The guiding principle would 
have betrayed its own defects by corresponding de- 
fects marked and manifest somewhere in the product ; 
but none such are to be seen. Mr. Frelinghuy sen's 
infirmities were either constitutional, and, as such, held 
under a control which was only not constant and ha- 
bitual, or they were an excess of those Christian virtues 
which are most difficult of attainment. The question 
therefore remains. How could a system of faith and 
practice, cordially and intelligently embraced, lead to 
such a spotless life and character amid every variety 
of temptation, unless it were from God ? 

To those who identify godliness and gloom — who 



CONCLUSION-. 271 

confound Christian seriousness with austerity and mel- 
ancholy, the Hfe described in this volume administers 
a pointed rebuke. Here was a man whose conscien- 
tiousness was unequaled in any generation of believ- 
ers — whose abstinence from the pleasures of sin was 
complete and life-long — whose religious convictions 
were so intense and pervading as to shape his whole 
life, and yet no one of his contemporaries enjoyed so 
much happiness as he. ISTor is reference had here 
simply to the joy of communion with God, or to that 
which springs directly from spiritual duties and priv- 
ileges — although, in his case, both of these were great 
— but to the ordinary kinds and sources of pleasure in 
common life. In all domestic and social scenes, Mr. 
Frelinghuysen was happy himself, and the source of 
happiness to every one around him. In consequence 
of his sensitive organization, and of occasional attacks 
of a depressing disease, there were times when his face 
was clouded. But these were exceptions. In the gen- 
eral, he entered with a keen zest into every form and 
scene of rational enjoyment. 

Even his habitual dread of death, and the constant 
apprehension of unfitness for the judgment which he 
unfortunately and mistakenly cherished, could not 
break the spring of his character or chill the warm 
current of his social impulses. His manly sense re- 
jected asceticism in every form. He believed that 
godliness had the promise of the life that now is as 
well as of that which is to come, and he showed his 
faith by his works. Cheerfulness without levity, wit 
without coarseness, familiarity without rudeness, gave 
an additional charm to his generous table, and made 
I lis society a coveted possession to persons of all ages 



272 LIFE OF FEELINGHUYSEN. 

and classes. His piety, instead of quenching his nat- 
ural tendency to mirth, only purified and increased it. 
It remains only to add a few words respecting what 
was the fundamental element in this remarkable ca- 
reer. There is no possibility of mistake upon this 
point. It was so constantly avowed, on proper occa- 
sions, by Mr. Frelinghuysen — it shone out so clearly 
in his speeches, letters, conversations, and prayers — it 
did so much toward the shaping of his outward course 
— it entered so deeply and pervadingly into his relig- 
ious experience, that all other influences must be 
deemed subordinate or auxiliary. This was his sim- 
ple and absolute faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the 
Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. 
With this he began his career in the morning of life, 
and with this he ended it amid the gathering shades 
of the dark valley. He never seemed for a moment 
to rest upon his virtues, services, or honors, upon any 
thing which grace had enabled him to be or to do, 
but always and only upon the finished work of the 
one atoning Savior who had loved him and given 
Himself for him. The revelation which Scripture 
makes of the incarnate Son of God, as living, dying, 
rising, and reigning for the salvation of His people, 
fully satisfied his reason, his heart, and his conscience. 
He rested here with a conviction which nothing could 
shake. Whatever excursions he might make in the 
wide range of religious inquiry — whatever attention 
he bestowed upon the Christian evidences, he always 
came back to the one common foundation of all just 
and certain hope for the fallen children of men. He 
was a sinner and Christ was a Savior, and with his 
whole heart he believed in Him as such. 



CONCLUSION. 273 

This faith made him what he was. It was the great 
granite foundation underlying all else that was true, 
and just, and pure, and lovely, and of good report in 
his whole development. It gave the tone to his 
thoughts and aspirations, to his domestic and social 
life, to his private charities and public usefulness, to 
his constant shrinking from self-assertion, and yet 
equally constant endeavor to win others to his own 
happy experience of Christ's preciousness, to his im- 
movable adherence to principle, and yet graceful and 
easy concession in things indifferent. Believing as he 
did in all Scripture truth, his faith fastened itself with 
a peculiar intensity upon Him who is its sum and sub- 
stance — upon Him who, as a personal Savior, by His 
great act of condescension and love, sheds a new sanc- 
tity upon every duty, and invests every privilege with 
a fresh attractiveness. To his mind Christ was first, 
last, and midst, in all theology, in all experience, in 
all hope. To Him his mind, as it were, instinctively 
turned from every pursuit, in every temptation, sor- 
row, or perplexity. The "Blood Theology," which 
to some is so repulsive, to him was the perfection of 
reason, the glory of the Scriptures, the last result of 
God's manifold wisdom and grace. His faith in it 
never wavered. To the end it was Christ and Him 
crucified to whom he looked for pardon, peace, holi- 
ness, and life everlasting. This faith controlled him 
while he lived and sustained him when he died. ISTor 
did it cease its operation until the happy period when, 
having passed the dark river, to use his own sweet 
words, ho laid his aching head upon the Savior's 
breast, and thanked Him for all His mercies. 

M2 



APPENDIX. 



The following sketches of the two brothers of Mr. Frelinghuysen, 
and of his oldest sister, are appended here chiefly because of the in- 
fluence which all of them exerted upon his character, and also be- 
cause not a few of the persons into whose hands this book is likely to 
fall will be gratified with even a rapid outline of those whose memo- 
ry, on various accounts, is precious to them. 

*' Oh ! bless' d are they who live and die like these, 
Loved with such love, and with such sorrow mourned !" 

I. JOHN FRELINGHUYSEN, ESQ. 

John, the eldest son of General Frederick Frelinghuysen, was born 
March 21, 1776, near Millstone, N. J. His infancy was spent amid 
the clash of arms on the battle-field of the Revolution, and his youth 
under the languor which pervaded the whole country upon the con- 
clusion of peace and until the national government was firmly estab- 
lished. He was, however, enabled to receive sufficient instruction to 
fit him for entering Queen's College, New Brunswick, then under the 
direction of its first president, the Rev. Dr. Hardenbergh. He was 
graduated in the year 1792, and immediately entered upon the study 
of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1797, and in the same year 
was married to Louisa, daughter of Archibald Mercer, Esq., then re- 
siding at what is now called Blackwell's Mills. In 1801 he purchased 
the estate which is still in the possession of his family ; but a few 
years later, owing to the death of his father, he returned to Millstone, 
where he took the charge of his father's family, and superintended 
the studies of his two younger brothers. Here he was bereaved of 
' his wife, who died, after a short illness, in March, 1809. She had 
been a great blessing to him, especially in the formation of his relig- 
ious character. 

In 1810 he returned to his own property near the county seat, and 
the next year was married to Elizabeth Mercereau, the eldest daugh- 
ter of Michael Van Vcghten, Esq. 

Owing to an unconquerable aversion to public speaking, he figured 



276 APPENDIX. 

but little in pleading before the courts, but in the quieter branches 
of the profession pursued a large and profitable practice. For a 
number of years in succession he represented his native county as 
member of the State Council, and afterward was appointed surro- 
gate of the county for three consecutive terms of five years each. His 
capacity and integrity caused him very often to be made the executor 
of the estates of deceased persons, and these trusts were always ad- 
ministered by him with the strictest care, probity, and honor. When 
he lay upon his dying-bed, he said to his wife, *'This property will 
remain in your and the children's possession, for none of it has ever 
been taken from the widow and the orphan — these I have never 
wronged — but all is the fruit of my own honest toil." 

He inherited from his father a taste and a fitness for militarv life. 
At the time of the second war with Great Britain, he was for several 
months encamped with a regiment of the New Jersey militia, which 
he commanded, at Sandy Hook, with the view of preventing the ene- 
my's vessels from passing up the bay to attack New York. No such 
attempt was seriously made ; but the soldiers on service at the Hook 
were considered to have been instrumental in deterring the hostile 
squadron from any near approach. After the war, Mr. Frelinghuysen 
was made a brigadier general, by which title he was usually known 
and addressed. He was naturally adapted to be a successful milita- 
ry leader, for he had a quick eye, a clear head, a rapid decision, a 
sound judgment, a strong will, and invincible courage. He seemed 
to be quite insensible to fear. At one time there was, in the county 
of Somerset, a resident who, having become heavily involved in pe- 
cuniary embarrassments, and being threatened with legal process, 
shut himself up in his house with loaded arms, and declared that he 
would shoot any person who attempted to serve a warrant on him. 
As the man was known to be of v-cry determined character, it was dif- 
ficult to find any one willing to approach the house. General Fre- 
linghuysen, on being informed of the fact, took the paper and de- 
clared that he would serve it. As he came near the dwelling, its 
occupant called out to him to return, or he would fire. "No you 
won't," was the reply, as the courageous man coolly continued his 
course until he reached the door, when he made legal service of the 
paper. 

His first serious convictions on religious matters seem to have been 
produced by the conversion of his first wife. After a considerable 
struggle with himself, he was led to make a public profession of his 
faith while yet residing at Millstone. Being naturally of a some- 
what imperious disposition, it was not easy for him to cultivate the 
peculiarly Christian graces of lowliness, meekness, and patience, yet 



JOHN FRELINGHUYSEN. 277 

he did so with wonderful success. He feared God above many. If 
ever he fell through infirmity, his penitence and self-abasement were 
deep and earnest, and he sought anew pardon and peace from the 
ever-flowing fountain of the Savior's blood. He was a bold and de- 
cided Christian. The courage which was a part of his natural consti- 
tution gave tone to his religious life. In every relation, and among 
every class of persons, he acted up to his professed principles, some- 
times pushing his consistency to an unusual degree. For example, 
he felt that every believer should not only himself sanctify the Lord's 
day, but labor for its observance by others. He was known frequent- 
ly to arrest travelers on the post-road, in front of his dwelling, who 
violated the law of the land by journeying on the Lord's day. If 
they declared their kiability to bear the expense of lying by until 
Monday, he would assume that expense himself. While on service 
at Sandy Hook, he frequently conducted public service at the head 
of his regiment, and used every opportunity to enforce the claims of 
personal religion upon the men. After the war, many letters were 
received by him from persons desiring to acknowledge the benefit they 
derived from these appeals, and to express their thanks to him. 

He was a man of large heart, and devised liberal things. Pleas- 
ant, affable, social, he was far from being an anchorite, but enjoyed 
life abundantlv. Yet he thought continually for others. Hand and 
heart were ope'n to the poor or afflicted ; and it was his constant study 
not onlv to provide for temporal wants, but equally to provide the 
means of grace for the destitute, and, so far as lay in his power, to se- 
cure the due improvement of those means. 

In the midst of his usefulness, he was cut off by a bilious fever on 
the 10th of April, 1833. 

A gentleman, who was for many years a leading member of the bar 
of Somerset County, has kindly furnished the author with the follow- 
ing notice of General Frelinghuysen : 

" My acquaintance with the late General John Frelinghuysen com- 
menced in 1814, and ended only with his death. We were neigh- 
bors, members of the same Church, and often associated in busincf ^ 
transactions. These opportunities of knowing the man only made 
me esteem him the more highly in every relation of life. I know of 
no good quality, as a man or a Christian, which he did not possess in 
an eminent degree. • 

"He was a man of great business tact, a skillful and accurate ac- 
countant, prompt in the discharge of duty, systematic in his arrange- 
ments, and punctual to every engagement. Being very popular in 
the community, and enjoying the confidence of every one, he became 
extensively occupied in public affairs, and held, iu turn or together, 



278 APPENDIX. 

nearly every county office. As executor, administrator, guardian, or 
trustee, he handled more money than any other five men in the coun- 
ty, and never was there even a whisper of complaint as to his man- 
agement of these tnists. 

"He inherited from his revolutionary father a strong love for his 
country and its republican institutions. When called to serve in the 
field during the war of 1812, he took a very high position for cour- 
age, capacity, and self-sacrificing patriotism. His care of his regi- 
ment was unequaled. The sick soldier was sheltered in his tent and 
ate at his table ; and when, by the neglect of others, the supplies of 
food for the regiment were inadequate in quantity or quality, he free- 
ly used his own means to relieve their wants, even going so far as to 
embarrass his estate for this purpose. 

"He was a man of profound and ardent piety. This shone out 
on all occasions. Without any seeming eff"ort on his part to produce 
such an impression, no one could be in his company, even for a short 
time, without feeling that he was a sincere and earnest Christian ; yet 
he was humble and unostentatious. In the Church he was esteemed 
as a pillar. He was active in every good work, a devout attendant 
upon ordinances, a constant friend and liberal supporter of the min- 
ister, fond of the social prayer-meeting — which he usually conducted, 
and where his prayers seemed to be offered in the very presence of 
God and eternity — ever ready to contribute to benevolent associations, 
prompt to rebuke open sin, to warn impenitent persons, or soothe and 
comfort the afflicted. In the councils of the Church, his opinions 
were always looked for with interest and received with respect. The 
poor of. every class looked upon him as their counselor and friend, 
and he spared no pains to administer promptly and efficiently to their 
relief in things spiritual and temporal. 

"Indeed, considering General Frelinghuysen's activity, consistency, 
and uniform excellence in so many varied relations, it may with truth 
be said that he was a public benefactor. The place made vacant in 
the county of Somerset by his death has never been filled, and will 
not be for a century." 

11. MARIA TRELINGHUYSEN, 

WIF^ OF THE EEV. JOHN COBNELL. 

Maria, the first daughter and second child of General Frederick 
Frelinghuysen, was bom in March, 1778. When about twenty years 
of age she was married to the Rev. John Cornell, a young clergyman, 
who, after studying for a time in the famous Log College at Nesha- 
rainy, Pcnn., entered Queen's College at New Bnmswick, where he 



MKS. CORNELL. 279 

completed liis course in tlie year 1795. He then pursued the study 
of theology under Dr. Livingston, at Flatbush, L.I., and was licensed 
to preach about the year 1798, After performing missionary service 
for a year or two, he was called to the charge of the Presbyterian 
Church in Allentown, N. J. Here he remained for twenty years, a 
laborious, faithful, and successful pastor. Afterward he for seven 
years conducted the Classical Academy at Somerville, and then (in 
1828), induced by the state of his health, retired to the homestead of 
his Avife's family near Millstone, at that time in the possession of her ♦ 
brother Theodore. Here Mrs. Cornell ended her days on earth, in 
March, 1832. 

]\Irs. Cornell was a remarkable woman for vigor of mind, intelli- 
gent piety, persistent charity, and practical usefulness. She united 
thought, reading, and conversational gifts with the diligent discharge 
of every domestic duty, in this latter respect resembling more than is 
common in our day the picture of the virtuous woman drawn in the 
closing chapter of the Book of Proverbs. She was an admirable 
helpmeet to her husband in his pastoral office ; and, wherever she re- 
sided, secured the unbounded respect and affection of the communi- 
ty. Her deep interest in the cause of temperance is worthy of espe- 
cial note. Long before there was any public or general agitation of 
the subject, and while the decanter was invariably to be found on ev- 
ery hospitable sideboard, ardent spirits were banished from her house, 
and her whole influence thrown on the side of total abstinence. 
There is still in existence the " Constitution Book," as it is called, of 
an association established at Allentown in the year 1805, under the 
name of the "Sober Society," with fifty-eight signatures attached, in 
which the signers pledge themselves to abstain from all use of ardent 
spirits as a beverage. There is no doubt that the animating spring, 
if not the originator, of this first temperance society in America was 
Mrs. Maria Cornell. 

Being nine years older than her brother Theodore, she naturally 
exerted a considerable influence over him, both in person, while he 
was still under the paternal roof, and afterward by letter, when he 
was pursuing his education, collegiate and professional. He has fre- 
quently been known to acknowledge his obligations to her intelligent, 
judicious, sisterly affection, and in a letter to the Eev. Dr. Hay, writ- 
ten in 1832, he thus expressed himself on the subject: "I have sus- 
tained a sore bereavement in the death of my sister. She stood in 
the early relation of a mother to me. I was deprived of my mother 
at six years of age, and this dearly-cherished sister, by a kind Provi- 
dence, was ordained to fdl her place, which she did most tenderly and 
faith full V. I bless God that He has been pleased to spare her to us 



280 APPENDIX. 

so long, and has now afforded such precious assurances in her life 
that He has taken her to His own holy habitation." 

After her death, which occurred March 13th, 1832, there appeared 
in the columns of the Christian Intelligencer a very touching obituary 
notice from the pen of the Hon. Peter D. Vroom. Governor Vroom 
bears high testimony to Mrs. Cornell's fidelity as a wife and mother, 
to her unusual excellencies of mind and heart, to her boundless char- 
ity, to her assiduous ministrations among all the children of sorrow, 
■ to her intelligent piety, to her humble, holy, exemplary life, and her 
calm, peaceful death. 

From some of the statements made in this notice, it would appear 
that, notwithstanding her consistent walk, she was exposed to seasons 
of religious darkness, when a deep sense of unworthiness clouded ev- 
ery prospect. On one such occasion she thus expressed herself to an 
intimate friend: "I am sometimes ready to conclude all past experi- 
ence delusive. And what then ? Shall I remain satisfied, and give 
the enemy cause to triumph and the world to reproach ? Oh no ; I 
will not, can not give over the pursuit. If I perish, it must be by the 
way of the Cross. There, and there only, hang all my expectations, 
all my desires." In mere secular sorrows and trials her faith was 
triumphant ; in the worst of them her language was, "If God in Christ 
is the portion of my soul, surely I may rejoice even in this valley of 
tears ; and although billow after billow may be commissioned to roll 
over me, still will I rejoice. He can, and will say, * Peace, be still,' 
whenever the design of His providence is eff"ected." 

III. FREDERICK FRELINGHUYSEN, ESQ. 

Frederick, the fourth child and youngest son of General Frederick 
Frelinghuysen, was born at the family homestead at Millstone on the 
8th of November, 1788. 

He received the rudimentary elements of his education at New 
Brunswick, in company with Theodore, and afterward followed him, 
at the interval of two years, in the academy of Basking Ridge, in the 
College of New Jersey, and in the law ofiice of Richard StoQ^ton. 
He was graduated at Nassau Hall in the year 1806, and four years sub- 
sequently was admitted to the bar. He commenced practice in Som- 
erset County, fixing his residence at Millstone. In the year 1812 he 
was married to Jane, the eldest daughter of Peter B. Dumont, Esq., 
an old and influential citizen of the county. Mr. Frelinghuysen soon 
secured an extensive and lucrative practice, which a few years after- 
ward was greatly enlarged by his appointment as prosecutor of the 
pleas for the counties of Somerset, Middlesex, and Hunterdon — an 



FEEDERICK FRELINGHUYSEN. 281 

appointment which he continued to hold up to the time of his death. 
During this time he formed many intimate acquaintances at the bar 
and in social life, but none wliich ever eclipsed or interfered with the 
close ties which bound him to his brother Theodore. ' ' The love which 
these brothers had for each other was, in its depth and warmth, almost 
romantic. Their greatest pleasure was to be together, and the lively 
sallies of the younger brother never failed to dispel the depression of 
spirits to which Theodore was sometimes subject. The period of 
twelve years, extending from 1808 to 1820, was spent by them in pro- 
fessional life, but they were all the while framing pleasant excuses 
and urgent reasons why Theodore should go to Millstone or Freder- 
ick come to Newark. Were they to go to court, one must go by the 
house of the other, to enjoy as quickly, and continue as long as possi- 
ble, the brother communion," Frederick was perhaps more of a nat- 
ural orator than either of his brothers. His imagination was fervid, 
his temperament buoyant, and his sensibility very lively. Persons 
yet living, who in their youth heard him plead in jury trials, speak en- 
thusiastically of his power and success. 

On two occasions he delivered public orations which excited great 
interest at the time, and led the community to form high expectations 
of him, which, however, were blasted by his early death. One of these 
was before the Washington Benevolent Association at New Bruns- 
wick in 1812, the other before the Somerset County Bible Society at 
Somerville in 1820. Both of these were committed to the press, and 
a few copies are still extant. 

A month or two after pronouncing the address before the Bible So- 
ciety he was attacked with what proved to be a mortal disease. His 
religious views at first were clouded, but soon he was enabled to rest 
upon the Savior in simple faith, and thenceforward to the close of his 
five weeks' illness all was peace. The world was dismissed from his 
thoughts ; he had no solicitude for his recovery ; in weakness and 
suffering Patience wrought her perfect work. His sole anxiety was 
for those who were still out of Christ, and his communion with his 
Lord was such as to outweigh ^'ten thousand times ten thoftsand 
worlds." After bearing an ample and most intelligent testimony to 
evangelical piety, he fell asleep November 10th, 1820. 

On the 14th of November, a meeting of the members of the bar of 
New Jersey was held at the State-house in Trenton, when Richard 
Stockton was called to the chair, and Joseph C. Ilornblower appoint- 
ed secretary. "The meeting being organized, L, H. Stockton, Esq., 
in an appropriate manner, announced the recent and solemn dispen- 
sation of Providence in the death of Frederick Frelinghuysen, Esq., 
a counselor of the Supreme Court of this state. Whereupon, the 

U 



282 



APPENDIX. 



members of the meeting being deeply impressed with the irrepara- 
ble loss sustained by society in this event, it was unanimously re- 
solved, 

"1. That we do most sincerely, cordially, and affectionately sym- 
l)athize with the bereaved widow, the orphan children, and the other 
near relatives of our deceased brother on this afflicting dispensation 
of Divine Providence, which has deprived the bar of the society of 
an honest and honorable man, peculiarly endeared to his country by 
the characteristic traits that distinguished him, not only as an able 
and eloquent advocate, but as a Christian, a scholar, and a gentleman. 

" 2. That, in testimony of our attachment to his memory, and re- 
spect to his public and private character, we will wear the usual 
badge of mourning thirty days. 

"3. That these resolutions be published in the several newspapers 
of this state, and that they be communicated to John Frelinghuysen 
and Theodore Frelinghuysen, Esqs., the brothers, and also to the wid- 
ow of our deceased friend. 

"By order of the meeting. Richard Stockton, Pros. 

"Joseph C. Hoenblower, Sec." 



INDEX. 



African colonization, Mr. Freling. 
huysen's interest in, 222. 

Alexander, Dr. Archibald, on Mr 
Frelinghuysen's eloquence, 128, 

Alexander, Dr. James W., on Mr, 
Frelinghuysen's character, 145. 

Annexation of Texas, its influence 
on presidential election of 1844, 
92 ; on subsequent fate of the 
nation, 93. 

Atoning Savior, Mr. Frelinghuy- 
sen's faith in, 165, 272. 

Attorney General of New Jersey, 
Mr. Frelinghuysen's appoint- 
ment to the office, 46 ; his dis- 
charge of its duties, 47; one rea- 
son of his accepting it, 154. 

Baccalaureate addresses, Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen's at Rutger's Col- 
lege, 109, 110. 

Baldwin, Judge, decides the pro- 
prietary case, 56. 

Bar of New Jersey, 42, 48 ; wis- 
dom of Mr. Frelinghuysen's 
leaving it, 57. 

Basking Ridge, academy there, 31. 

Baxter's Saint's Rest, Mr. Freling- 
huysen's fondness for, 121 



Benefits of affliction, 209, 211. 

Bible, Mr. Frelinghuysen's dili- 
gent study of, 122, 139, 140, 
149, 261. 

Bible Society, American, Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen's connection with, 
218-222 ; his love for, 169. 

Bradish, Hon. L., author of Bible 
Society's minute on the deatli 
of Mr. Frelinghuysen, 221. 

Breckinridge, Rev. Dr. John, pro- 
cures a meeting for the Amer-I 



ican Sunday School Union at 

Washington, 233. 
Brevity of Mr. Frelinghuysen's 

speeches, 122, 
Briggs, Governor, his interest in 

the Congressional prayer-meet- 

ing, 157 ; in the temperance 

movement, 246. 
Brougham, Lord, on a lawyer's 

duty, 156. 
Brown, Rev. I. V , his Life of Dr. 

Finley, 32. 
Brownlee, Rev. Dr., at Basking 

Ridge, 32. 
Burnet's Life of Hale quoted, 155. 

Calhoun, John C, 59. 

Campbell, Lord, on a lawyer's duty, 
156. 

Campbell, Rev. Dr., at Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen's funeral, 113; his 
funeral sermon quoted, 164, 
192 ; Mr. Frelinghuysen's part- 
ing interview with, 261. 

Cannon, Rev. Dr., his opinion of 
General Frelinghuysen's piety, 
26 ; speech at Mr. Frelinghuy- 
sen's inauguration, 104. 

Catholicity, Mr. Frelinghuysen's, 
99,118,164,217; itslimhs, 165. 

Censoriousness, Mr. Frelinghuy- 
sen's freedom from, 149, 192. 

Chambers, Hon. E. F., his letter to 
Mr. Frelinghuysen, 186. 

Chambers, Hon. George, class- 
mate of Mr. Frelinghuysen, 33 ; 
testifies to his diligence in study, 
36 ; to his legislative character, 
64. 

Charities, Mr. Frelinghuysen's, 
163, 164, 224. 



284 



INDEX. 



Cheerfulness, Mr. Frelinghuj'-sen's, 
115, 141, 152, 258, 271. 

Cheever, Rev. E., quoted, 161. 

Children, Mr. Frelinghuysen's 
fondness for, 116. 

Choice of a profession, Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen's counsel on, 207. 

Cholera, fast day for, 78. 

Christian Intelligencer, The, quot- 
ed, 280. 

Clay, Henry, in Senate, 59 ; opin- 
ion of Mr. Frelinghuysen, 81 ; 
nominated for President, 87 ; 
popularity of, 117; letters to Mr. 
Frelinghuysen, 175-180. 

"Coetus," the, origin of, 19. 

Colonization Society, American, 
Mr. Frelinghuysen's connection 
with, 222 ; speech for, 127 ; re- 
view of, 223 ; life-long interest 
in, 224. 

" Conferentie," the, origin of, 19. 

Congressional life, its moral risks, 
158 ; Mr. Frelinghuysen's views 
of, 195, 196. 

Conscientiousness, IMr. Freling- 
huysen's, 129, 143, 144. 

Constitution of the United States, 
Mr. Frelinghuysen's love for, 
45, 110. 

Conversion of ]\Ir. Frelinghuysen, 
agencies in, 130; its character, 
133. 

Cornell, Rev. John, sketch of, 278. 

Cornell, Mrs. Maria, character, 
279 ; influence on her brother, 
279; piety, 280. 

Cornell, Rev. Dr. J. A. H., Mr. 
Frelinghuysen's letters to, 209- 
212. 

Courage of General F. Frelinghuy- 
sen, 25 ; of John Frelinghuysen, 
276; of Theodore, 257. 

Cox, Rev. Dr., orderly sergeant of 
'Captain Frelinghuysen, 44. 

Crosby, Rev. Dr. Howard, on Mr. 
Frelingliuysen, 106-109. 

"Crown lawyer," anecdote, 49. 

Davis, Hon. John, 87. 



Dawson, Hon. Mr., 81. 

Death, Mr. Frelinghuysen's fear of, 
253 ; his victory over, 255, 258 } 
his own at a fit time. 111; of 
Frederick Frelinghuysen, Esq., 
131 ; its character, 132, 281. 

Demarest, Rev. William, transla- 
tor of "Frelinghuysen's Ser- 
mons," 16. 

De Witt, Rev. Dr., pastor of Mr. 
Frelinghuysen, 100; receives a 
letter of condolence from him, 
212 ; speaks at his funeral, 112. 

Dickerson, Hon. Mahlon, 59. 

Doddridge's Rise and Progress 
recommended, 205. 

Dumont, Peter B., 330. 

Duryea, Rev. J. T., reports ^Mr. 
Frelinghuysen's words on a cer- 
tain occasion, 134. 

Dutch Church, Mr. Frelinghuysen 
born in the, 129 ; his love' for 
the, 105. 

Edwards, President, refers to T. J. 
Frelinghuysen's ministry, 16. 

Edwards, Rev. Dr., Mr. Freling- 
huysen's letter to, 248. 

Elder, Mr. Frelinghuysen's activi- 
ty as such, 161. 

Election campaign of 1844, its 
earnestness, 88 ; ]\Ir. Freling- 
huvsen's views of, 177; Mr. 
Clay's, 178. 

Ellsworth, Hon. William, Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen's letter to, 88. 

Elmendorf, Dr. James B., marries 
Elizabeth Frelinghuysen, 27. 

Eloquence, Mr. Frelinghuysen's, 
42 ; character of, 50 ; instances 
in Newark, 123; in Boston, 124; 
power of, 124 ; not capable of 
report, 125 ; Dr. Magic's rem- 
iniscence, 126-128 ; before the 
American Bible Society, 220. 

Evarts, Jeremiah, remarks on one 
of Mr. Frelinghuysen's sj;eech- 
cs, 76. 

Everett, Hon. Edward, letter from, 
82, 83. 



INDEX. 



285 



Faith, simplicity of Mr. Freling- 
huysen's, 133 ; strength of, 148. 

Fast-day for cholera, Mr. Freling- 
huysen's speech upou appoint- 
ing, 78. 

Fasting, Mr. Freliughuysen's prac- 
tice of, 139. 

Fillmore, Hon. M., 87. 

Finley, Rev. Dr., his school, 32; 
his religious influence, 130 ; 
founder of American Coloniza- 
tion Society, 222. 

Flag-raising at llutger's College, 
45. 

Flattery, Mr. Freliughuysen's ab- 
horrence of, 136. 

Forgiveness of injuries, Mr. Frc- 
linghuysen on, 141. 

Frelinghuysen, Mrs. Ann, her mar- 
riage, 27; happy influence on 
her husband's children, 31. 

Frelinghuysen, Mrs. Charlotte, her 
marriage, 40 ; character, 40 ; 
death, 109. 

Frelinghuysen, Ferdinandus, 17. 

Frelinghuysen, General Frederick, 
his birth, 22 ; education, 23 ; 
Revolutionary services, 24 ; in 
U. S. Senate, 25 ; death, 26 ; 
children, 27. 

Frelinghuysen, Frederick, Esq., 
28, 29, 131, 280-282. 

Frelinghuysen, Mrs. Harriet, 109. 

Frelinghuysen, Henricus, 17. 

Frelinghuysen, Jacobus, 17. 

Frelinghuysen, the Rev. John, 
birth and education, 18 ; mar- 
riage, 21 ; death, 19. 

Frelinghuysen, John, Esq., his in- 
fluence on Theodore, 36 ; youth, 
275 ; integrity and courage, 
270 ; piety, 277. 

Frelinghuysen, the Rev. Theo. 
Jac, his birth, 13 ; call to 
America, 14 ; ministry, 15 ; 
success, 16. 

Frelinghuysen, the Rev. Theodore, 
his education, 16 ; character, 
17. 

Frelinghuysen, Hon. Theodore, 



his birth, 28 ; education at Ne\v 
Brunswick, 31 ; at Basking 
Ridge, 32 ; at Princeton, 33 ; 
studying law, 36 ; marriage, 40 ; 
success at the bar, 42 ; patriot- 
ism, 44 ; attorney general, 46 ; 
legal characteristics, 48 ; in 
Quaker case, 50 ; in Proprietary 
case, 56 ; in Senate, 61 ; on the 
Indians, 6G ; on Sunday mails, 
73 ; on appointing a fast day, 
78 ; returns to Newark, 84 ; 
Chancellor of University, 85 ; 
nominated for Vice-president, 
87 ; result of election, 91 ; not 
to be regretted, 92 ; removes to 
New Brunswick, 104 ; death, 
111; funeral, 112; person, 114; 
social habits, 115 ; mental traits, 
112-120; reading, 121; elo- 
quence, 122-127; conversion, 
130; faith, 133; humility, 135; 
devotions, 138 ; conscientious- 
ness, 143; hospitality, 152; le- 
gal integrity, 156 ; activity as 
elder, 161 ; in Sunday-schools, 
162; charities^ 163; concern 
for souls, 171 ; President of A. 
B. C. F. M., 214 ; of American 
Bible Society, 219; of Ameri- 
can Tract Society, 226 ; his in- 
terest in African colonization, 
222 ; in American S. S. Union, 
232 ; in American Temperance 
Union, 245 ; dying exercises, 
252 ; summary of his character, 
264. 

Friends, society of, their division, 
50 ; their creed, 52. 

Friends, Mr. Freliughuysen's fond- 
ness for, 142, 152, 256. 

Garrison, W. L., his lines to Mr. 
Frelinghuysen, 70. 

Geniality of Mi*. Freliughuysen's • 
piety, 141. 

" Gift of God," Mr. Frelinghuysen 
really such, 264. 

Grant, Mrs., of Laggan, her notice 
of tlie Rev. Theodore Freling- 
huysen, 17. 



286 



INDEX. 



Griffin, Eev. Dr., 130. 

Gurley, Rev. Dr., letter from, 223. 

Haines, Governor, his speech at 
Mr. Frelinghiiysen's inaugura- 
tion, lO-t. 

Hall vs. Grant, 50. 

Hall, Rev. Robert, an audible pri- 
vate prayer, 139 ; on religion, 
210. 



Hallock, Rev. Dr., letter from, 225 ; 
Mr. Frelincrhuvsen's letter to, 
227. 

Hardenbergh, Rev. Dr., his char- 
acter and marriage, 21. 

Hardenbergh, the JufvrouAv, her 
piety, 20; marriage, 21 ; second 
marriage, 21; death, 22; desires 
her children to become minis- 



ion of, 83; Professor Lewis's, 

95-97. 
Industry, its value to the young, 

194, 195, 198, 200, 202-3. 
Ingersoll, Hon. J. R., a classmate 

of Mr. Frelinghuysen, 33 ; let- 
ter from, 33-35. 
Insight, Mr. Frelinghuysen's, 63 ; 

into character, 117 ; into books, 

117. 
Integrity of INIr. Frelinghuysen, 80, 

81,82. 

Jackson, Andrew, character, 61 ; 
on Indian question, 65, 69 ; on 
Mr. Frelinghuysen's integrity, 
81 ; commended by Mr. Freling- 
huysen, 157; his annual mes- 
sage in 1834, 204. 



longing for 



ters, 22 ; influence on Theodore Jackson, John P., Esq., Mr. Clay's 

letter to, 81 ; his testimony to 
Mr. Frelinghuysen, 189. 

Jackson, Rev. William, marries 
Anna Frelinghuysen, 18. 

Jay's Exercises, a favorite book of 
Mr. Frelinghuysen's, 121. 

Jefferson, President, on Indian 
question, 67 ; has a fund for ed- 
ucating colored children, 224. 

Job, quotation from, applied to 
Mr. Frelinghuysen, 164 

Johnson, Professor, 99. 

Johnson, Hon. R. M., his reports 
on Sunday mails, 71, 72. 

Judd, Rev. Dr. Gideon F., marries 
a daughter of General F. Fre- 
linghuysen, 27 ; his death and 
funeral, 210. 

Judge of Supreme Court of New 
Jersey, Mr. Frelinghuysen ap- 
pointed, 47. 



Frelinghuysen, 129 
death, 262. 

Harlan Page's example, 230. 

Hasbrouck, Hon. A. B., President 
of Rutger's College, 103. 

Hay, Rev. Dr., letter of Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen to, 329 ; his intima- 
cy with, 160. 

Henry, Rev. Dr. C. S., 99. 

Hodge, Rev. Dr., at Mr. Freling- 
huysen's funeral, 112. 

Home, Mr. Frelinghuysen's piety 
at, 151. 

Hope, Dr., anecdote of, 152. 

Hornblower, Chief Justice, 42, 282. 

Hospitalitv, Mr. Frelinghuysen's, 
117, 152, 153. 

Humility, Mr. Frelinghuysen's, its 
extent, 100, 102, 135 ; expres- 
sions, 136, 254, 256, 262; 
grounds, 137, 148. 

Humor, Mr. Frelinghuysen's, 99 ; Judgment, Mr. Frelinghuysen's 



anecdotes, 115, 123. 



soundness of, 49, 62; 
of, 119. 



accuracy 



Imagination, Mr. Frelinghuysen's, 

1 20. 
Indian Bill, its nature, 64 ; Mr. 

Frelinghuysen's speech upon, 

66 ; subsequently approved in 

Georgia, 82 ; Mr. Everett's opin- Last sickness of Mr. Frelinghuv 



Kirkpatrick, Rev. Dr., a classmate 
of Mr. Frelinghuysen, 32 ; con- 
versation with him, 155. 



INDEX. 



287 



sen, its origin and progress, 252 
-253. 

Law, Mr. Frelinghuysen studies, 
36 ; practices, 40 ; forsakes, 57, 
85. 

Legal profession, its moral charac- 
ter, 154; why Dr. Spring left 
it, 171. 

Lewis, Professor Tayler, letter 
upon Mr. Frelinghuyseu's char- 
acter, 95-102. 

Lincoln, Hon. Heman, Mr. Fre- 
linghuyseu's letter to, 168. 

Lindsley, Rev. John, rector of 
grammai'-school at New Bruns- 
wick, 28. 

Lindsley, Rev. Dr. Philip, a class- 
mate of Mr. Frelinghuysen, 32. 

Livingston, Edward, replies to Mr. 
Frelinghuyseu's speech on Sun- 
day mails, 73. 

Lord's day, John Frelinghuyseu's 
zeal for, 277. 

Lumpkin, Governor, approves Mr. 
Frelinghuyscn's course on In- 
dian Bill, 81; calls him ''gift 
of God, "264. 

Magie, Rev. Dr., letter from, 126 
-128. 

Marsh, Rev. Dr., letter from, 245 
-251. 

Meekness, Mr. Frelinghuyscn's, 
anecdotes of, 141. 

Mercer, Archibald, 40, 325. 

Messier, Rev. Dr., his estimate of 
the first Frelinghuysens' success, 
16; his writings, 27. 

Milledoler, Rev. Dr., President of 
Rutger's College, 103. 

Ministers of Gospel, Mr. Freling- 
huyscn's desire to become one, 
170 ; his respect and care for, 
160. 

Missions, Foreign, A. B. C, Mr, 
Frelinghuysen's speeches for, 
123, 124; president of, 214; 
resignation, 215 ; farewell let- 
ter to, 216. 

IMurder case at Newark, Mr. Fre- 



linghuysen's eloquent effort in, 
42. 

Nassau Hall, Mr. Frelinghuysen 
studies there, 33. 

Ncilson, Colonel James, 28. 

Neville, Rev. Dr., reads service at 
Mr. Frelinghuysen's grave, 113. 

Nevius, Hon. J. S., Mr. Freling- 
huysen's letter to, 184-186. 

Newark, Mr. Frelinghuysen's set- 
tlement there, 40 ; returns there 
from Washington, 84 ; speaks 
there on Henry Clay, 181. 

New Brunswick, N. J., scene of 
Rev. T. J. Frelinghuysen's la- 
bors, 14, 15 ; final residence of 
Jufvrouw Hardenbergh, 22 ; Mr. 
Frelinghuysen at school there^ 
28 ; removes there, 104 ; buried 
there, 113. 

Packard, Frederick A., Esq., let- 
ter from, 232. 

Parker, C, Esq., on Mr. Freling- 
huysen's character, 41-44, 154. 

Patriotism, Mr. Frelinghuysen's, 
44, 46. 

Peacemaker, Mr. Frelinghuysen's 
skill as such, 161. 

Pennington, Hon. William, 42 ; 
letter from, 184. 

Personal efforts for souls, Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen's, 149, 171-174 ; his 
speech upon, 228-231. 

Pirtle & Prentice, Messrs., Mr. 
Frelinghuysen's letter to, 89, 
90. 

Poets, Mr. Frelinghuysen's favor- 
ite, 121. 

Popularity of Mr. Frelinghuysen, 
its cause, 117. 

Power of kindness, 229. 

Prayer, IMr. Frelinghuysen's hab- 
its of, 138-140, 146, 261. 

Praver - meetings. Congressional, 
157; in general, 149,160. 

Presidential election in 1844 — 
warmth of the canvass, 88 ; its 
result not to bo regretted, 92 ; 



288 



INDEX. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen's views of, 
177; Mr. Clay's do., 178, 179. 

Princeton, Mr. Frelinghuysen stud- 
ies law there, 39. 

Prohibitory Liquor Law, Mr. Fre- 



linghuysen's views 
251. 



upon, 21:8- 



(( 



Proprietary case," 56. 



"Quaker case," its nature, 50; 
Mr. Frelinghuysen's argument 
in, 53 ; result, 55. 

Queen's College, origin and found- 
ers, 103 ; its grammar - school, 
28 ; graduates, 275, 278. 

Randolph, John, testifies to Mr. 
Frelinghuysen's religious char- 
acter, 137. 

Reading, Mr. Frelinghuysen's, 41. 

Religious conversation, Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen's fondness for, 100. 

Resignation, Mi\ Frelinghuysen's, 
258. 

Romeyn, Rev. Thomas, marries 
Margaret Frelinghuysen, 18. 

Romeyn, Rev. Theo. Frel., minis- 
ter at Raritan, 18. 

Rutger's College, history of, 103 ; 
Mr, Frelinghuysen made presi- 
dent, 101 ; prosperity of, 105 ; 
raises flag at, 45 ; addresses at, 
109, 110. 

Saturday afternoon, Mr. Freling- 
huysen's, 163. 

Senate of United States, its mem- 
bers in 1829-1835, 59; bril- 
liancy, GO, 83 ; Mr. Frelinghuy- 
sen's course in it, 62, 156-159. 

Sergeant, Hon. John, 87. 

Sharswood, Judge, his work on 
professional ethics quoted, 153. 

Simplicitv of Mr. Frelinghuysen, 
147, 148. 

Slander case, Mr. Frelinghuysen's 
argument in, 50. 

Slavery, its overthrow in United 
States, 92-94. 

Somerville, New Jersey, Theolog- 



ical Seminary at, 19 ; Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen's speech there, 89. 

Smith, Rev. Dr. S. S., 23. 

Smith, Rev. J. Few, his historical 
discourse, 130 ; at Mr. Freling- 
huysen's funeral, 112. 

Smith, Dr. Ephraim, 28. 

Southard, Hon. S.L., classmate of 
Mr. Frelinghuysen, 32 ; on the 
bench, 43 ; in the Senate, 59 ; 
at the bar, 51. 

Spring, Rev. Dr. G., his letter to 
Mr. Frelinghuysen, 170. 

Statesmanship, Mr. Frelinghuy- 
sen's, 63, 64. 

Stockton, Hon. Richard, 42 ; Mr. 
Frelinghuysen studies law with, 
39 ; Frederick F. also, 330. 

Strong, Rev. Dr. T. C, at Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen's funeral, 112. 

Studdiford, Rev. Dr., on Dr. Fin- 
ley, 130. 

Student, Mr. Frelinghuysen always 
a diligent one, 34, 36, 41. 

Style, Mr. Frelinghuysen's, 122. 

Sunday Mail Bill, its character, 
71 ; Mr. Frelinghuysen's speech, 
73 ; results, 77. 

Sunday-schools, ]\Ir. Frelinghuy- 
sen's interest in, 126, 161-163, 
243. 

Sundav-school Union, American, 
Mr. Frelinghuysen's connection 
with, 232 ; his speech before, 
234-237. 

Synod of New Jersey, Mr. Freling- 
huvsen's eloquent speech before, 
127. 

Tallmage, Gen. James, at i\Ir. Fre- 
linghuysen's inauguration as 
chancellor, 85. 

Taylor, Rev. Dr. W. J. R., sermon 
on I\Ir. Frelinghuysen, 124 ; let- 
ter concerning, 219-221. 

T.emperance cause, Mr. Freling; 
huysen's interest in, 145, 244- 
his efforts for, 247; Mrs. Cor 
nell's, 279. 

Temperance Union, American, Mr. 



INDEX. 



289 



Frelingliuysen's connection with, 
245. 

Temptations, Mr. Frelingliuysen's 
in his last illness, 259. 

Tennent, Rev. Gilbert, his account 
of Rev. T. J. Frelingliuysen's 
success, 15. 

Tract Society, American, Mr. Fre- 
linghuy sen's connection Avith, 
225; President of, 226; resigna- 
tion, 227; address before, 228. 

Training of youth, its importance, 
234, 241. 

Treat, Rev. Dr., letter from, 214. 

Union of the states, Mr. Freling- 
liuysen's zeal for, 45, 4G, 110. 

University of the city of New York, 
Mr. Frelinghuysen made chan- 
cellor, 84 ; inauguration, 85 
success, 8G ; resignation, 95. 

Valedictory at college, Mr. Fre 
linghuysen's, 35. 

VanBuren, Hon. Martin, Llr. Fre 
linghuysen opposes his confirm- 
ation as minister to Great Brit- 
ain, 62. 

Van Nostrand, Caspar, 22. 

Vice-president of United States, 
Mr. Frelingliuysen's nomination 
for the post, 87 ; competitors, 88 ; 
election, 89; the result, 90; con- 
sequences, 91-94. 

Visiting the sick, Mr. Frelinghuy- 
sen's diligence in, 161. 

Vroom, Hon. Peter D., his obitu- 
ary of Mrs. Maria Cornell, 280. 



Waddell vs. Martin, 56. 

Wall, Hon. G. I)., 51. 

War of 1812, Mr. Frelingliuysen's 
exertions in, 44 ; John Freling- 
huysen's, 276. 

Waring, Mrs. A. F., quoted, 258. 

Washington, Mr. Frelinghuysen's 
first experience there, 195. 

Way land, Dr., his sermon on the 
Apostolic Ministry, 168. 

Webster, Daniel, 59, 233, 245 ; on 
Mr. Frelinghuysen's character, 
80 ; letters to Mr. Frelinghuy- 
sen, 182, 183. 

Whisky Insurrection, Gen. Fred- 
crick Frelinghuysen in the ex- 
pedition against it, 25. 

Whitfield, Rev. George, his refer-, 
once to Frelinghuvsen's success, 
16. 

Wilson, Rev. Dr. Hugh N., at Mr. 
Frelinghuysen's funeral, 112; 
testimony concerning, 121. 

Wood, George, Esq., 42, 51. 

Woodbridge, Rev. Dr., at Mr. Fre- 
linghuysen's funeral, 112; letter 
concerning him, 147. 

Wordsworth's Excursion quoted, 
116,126. 

WyckoflP, Rev. Dr., his obligations 
to Mr. Frelinghuysen, 37, 38. 

York, the old colored man, 144. 

Young, Mr. Frelinghuvsen's fond- 
ness for, 116, 142. 

Young lawyer, Mr. Frelinghuysen's 
agency in his conversion, 187. 



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